Markham's proposed massive user fee increases have group fretting for future

Yorkregion.com
November 30, 2018
Tim Kelly

The president of the Markham Aquatic Club is warning that sky-high user fee increases could easily backfire if implemented by the City of Markham this coming year.

Kevin Walker, whose club is facing increases he said could lead to user fees climbing by over 40 per cent in just three years, worries the club will lose membership and rent out less pool time at Markham facilities.

He said the combined decrease in club members and pool rentals would have the opposite effect of the user fee increases the city is planning.

The user fee increases are included in a 14-page report that was released in mid-November and prepared by multiple staff members in different city departments for review by members of council.

The user fee increases were passed at a general committee meeting attended by 10 of 13 members by a 6-4 vote on Nov. 12, but have yet to come to full Markham city council for a final vote.

While Walker points to a 40-per-cent increase in pool fees, it could have been far higher had the original proposal in the report been considered.

Under a facility comparator fee analysis -- which looked at the user fees charged in Vaughan, Richmond Hill and Mississauga and compared Markham with the highest comparator municipality among those three -- the hourly rate increase for six lanes of competitive swimming would have jumped an incredible 321 per cent. The Markham Aquatics Club/Mallards/Markham Synchro team, if they used 600 hours of pool time, would have paid a difference of $32,022 in extra fees with that increased price this coming year.

Other big-ticket increases in the initial report proposals included: 328 per cent more for artificial turf, prime time for child soccer; 328 per cent more for artificial turf for non-prime time child soccer and cricket; 224 per cent more for A fields for prime time child for diamonds; and an additional 199 per cent for B fields for prime time child diamonds.

Adults who play on artificial turf in prime time for adult soccer and cricket and in non-prime time for adult soccer and cricket were looking at 331 per cent increases, too.

The report’s authors, however, concluded that such astronomical increases “would cause a dramatic impact on the club participation level and its financial sustainability and would not align to Markham’s Sport Development Strategy.”

Instead, the report’s authors have recommended that for children and youth, permit fees not move to the highest level if the comparator fee is greater than a 10-per-cent increase, and that increases for 2019 and 2020 both be a maximum of 10 per cent each year plus CPI (consumer price index).

The same fee increase structure will hold for adult fees except that the amounts will move up to 15 per cent each year plus CPI.

Walker is concerned that with a jump of over 40 per cent in just three years, “I have no doubt our membership will decrease. I think we will survive, (we are) not going to thrive.”

He said his club would “not only decrease our rentals but lose membership and lose revenue.”

Coun. Don Hamilton, who voted to increase user fees, defends the increase.

“Should taxpayers who don’t have kids in soccer, swimming, cricket, etc., have to pay for those who do?

“My best response is that I pay 25 per cent of my taxes to the York Region School Board and I don’t have any kids in the school system. Do I resent paying? No. We are trying to make sure we have an educated society regardless of income level or ability to pay.”

Hamilton added that he felt Markham residents have top-end facilities and should be willing to pay for them.

“The bottom line is that we have these facilities like the Pan Am Pool and Aaniin Community Centre that are beautiful structures that are being well-used and enjoyed by the public, but are very expensive to operate. Somebody has to pay for them. If the users don’t pay, then the taxpayers at large will have to,” Hamilton said.

Coun. Colin Campbell, who voted against the user fee increases, said he finds it “disgraceful that we seem ready to again and again push extra taxes (that’s really what user fees are) on people, many of whom can hardly feed their families.

“Ten per cent increases per year plus CPI at the very least will make fees double in a short time. I find that unacceptable while we continue to pay huge salaries without looking inward for more efficiencies,” Campbell said.

Beyond his concern for his own club and its members, Walker worries that the user fees won’t ultimately work as well as the city hopes they will.

“They are not going to accomplish what you they are trying to do. They could wind up with empty sports fields or pools,” Walker said.

The user fee issue has been deferred and will come back to committee for further discussion on Dec. 10.