Council approved the city's proposed changes to Parks and Recreation 2022 fees and charges at this week's meeting. (File photos/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

First increase since 2019

City Rec. rates to see increase; booking fee introduced

Feb 15, 2022 | 2:00 PM

The City of North Battleford approved a two per cent flat rate increase for 2022 in many categories for those using its recreational facilities.

Director of Parks and Recreation Cheryl DeNeire said in her report at this week’s council meeting the city has not had an increase since 2019. Traditionally, it increases rates by two per cent every three years, but because of COVID-19 the city missed the last increase.

“The rate increase is less than $10 in most cases… So it’s not a large increase. Is it keeping par to our inflation? No. But we have been able to save funds in the past two years. Because of that, it’s reasonable to accept two per cent, at this point,” she said.

City manager Randy Patrick said the increases are necessary, adding that if there is no rate increase the cost would need to come out of taxes.

He said this puts the burden on users; not on taxes.

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Coun. Kent Lindgren had concerns about having an increase during the pandemic. “It’s a hard year to evaluate … usage in our facilities. I’m not sure right now if we are accurately at that point of saying we need this two per cent increase…,” he said.

Coun Kelli Hawtin was also opposed, questioning the justification for the rate increase. She said the city’s leisure facilities “have been costing us a lot less money than they were a couple of years ago,” because they are not open as often.

However, Coun. Greg Lightfoot favoured the increase, saying the city is already subsidizing rates for recreational and cultural facilities, so it would help.

Lightfoot added that it’s “a modest increase.”

In a vote for the resolution the majority of council was in favour, with only Lindgren and Hawtin opposed.

In another change for recreation, the city will start charging a $26 fee per booking rate for baseball, softball and soccer fields for the 2022 season. This will replace the existing sports field per player per season fee structure, which can fluctuate depending on the amount of registration.

DeNeire said administration recommended the change because there is a challenge when a group books a field and doesn’t show up. That leaves a field empty when another group could have used it instead.

“Because they booked it, we can’t sell the field to another group,” she said. “We need to have them pay so the field won’t be empty.”

DeNeire said she will come back next year to give an update on how the season panned out after introducing the booking fee.

“[It will] bring parity to all user groups based on usage,” she said.

The fee will also help recover costs for sports field maintenance.

Council voted unanimously in favour of the recommendation.

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow