Aurora faces user fee increases to cover costs in 2017

YorkRegion.com
Oct. 5, 2016
Teresa Latchford

The cost of playing in Aurora could go up come 2017.

At its Tuesday meeting, town council was faced with a report recommending a 1.1-per-cent increase to the user cost of services listed under the current fees and charges bylaw next year, including fees for parks, recreation and cultural services.

The town's cost to cover heat, hydro, the general operation of facilities and employee salaries and benefits are rising due to inflation, so revenues need to reflect that increase as well, according to financial services director Dan Elliott.

“It is all part of the mathematical equation,” he said. “If we don’t increase the fees we will fall short and the town would have to increase property taxes to cover those costs.”

The majority of the fees for parks and recreation services will see an increase of under $3. For example, family activities will be increased from $4.25 per class to $4.35 and adult pool memberships will increase from $193 per year to $197.05.

New charges proposed under the parks, recreation and cultural services umbrella include a park setup fee, mandatory for groups of 80 or more, park and picnic shelter clean-up fee, mandatory for groups of 79 or less, non-resident surcharge increase from 20 to 25 per cent and cultural services fees to cover costs related to cultural and historical searches.

However, drop-in activities have been divided into two categories, youth and other, to allow existing fees to be maintained for youth-related activities and junior A hockey rentals will be charged the non-prime ice rate regardless of the time of day.

“Part of our discussions with the youth advisory committee was around how to keep teenagers active and I have noticed there are times when the (town-owned) gym is quite empty,” Councillor Wendy Gaertner said. “Is there any way we could offer some sort of incentive for 14 to 19 year olds to use it in those times?”

Councillor Sandra Humfryes agreed, pointing out teens are not likely to be able to afford a monthly rate and, with winter coming up, it would be a good idea to work something out so they can stay active.

Elliott advised that further discussions regarding the fee changes could be had during the upcoming budget deliberations.

Fees associated with planning and building, corporate, infrastructure and environmental and financial services are also subject to the proposed increase.