It is recommended that there be no increase in the coming year for general admission fees for Powell River Recreation Complex.
At the Thursday, February 27, finance committee meeting, city director of parks, recreation and culture Ray Boogaards said typically, each year, the department submits recommended fee and charges changes to city council for approval. He said the city offers several programs and services for which the public is expected to pay. Services include the recreation complex swimming pool, fitness area and arena drop-in admission programs, and recreation programs, in addition to facility and park rentals.
Boogaards said this year the department wanted to try something different. Instead of bringing one single year to council for approval, he was recommending a three-year period for a fee and charges bylaw.
When staff recommends changes to fees and charges, they look at a number of factors, according to Boogaards.
“What we look at is the market analysis based on what other local governments on Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast are doing,” said Boogaards. “We also look at a number of different areas. The one problem with looking at market analysis is the fact that every facility is different.”
Boogaards said the department also wants to look at affordability.
“Affordability is so important today,” said Boogaards. “We can’t look at increasing fees beyond a point where the average person can’t afford to use the facility. We want to get as many people through the facilities as possible.”
Boogaards prepared a report for the finance committee, which recommended no increases for general admission fees for 2020/2021. He said that is for activities such as public swimming and public skating. In 2021/2022 and 2022/2023, the recommendation is for a two per cent increase in each of those two years.
For facility rental rates, the recommendation is a two per cent increase in each of the three years across the board for all ice rentals, meeting room and other municipal facility rentals, according to Boogaards. The same goes for parks and municipal properties.
“This is consistent with the consumer price index at 2.3 per cent in British Columbia and 1.9 per cent across Canada in 2019,” said Boogaards.
He also outlined fees for the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN), which levies fees for events where music is played. Boogaards said these fees can be passed onto the renter of city facilities if recorded music is played at these events.
Boogaards said the city has faced levies from SOCAN for many years but the department wants to ensure it is consistent in collecting SOCAN tariffs for facility rentals.
City of Powell River Council will consider the recommended fees and charges.
