Facility fees catch attention of sports groups

Facility fees catch attention of sports groups

Columns

By: John Cudmore

Sports organizations are conditioned to the rising annual costs to play their games.

After all, operating costs for facilities increase annually so the cost must be absorbed and what more logical solution than to tap users?

Now, organizations that use facilities owned by the Town of Newmarket can expect to pay additional fees for non-resident members for the privilege starting in January.

It’s nothing new under the sun. A sliding scale for fees for use of arenas in Richmond Hill has been in place for years to determine hourly rates for youths and adults, residents and out-of-towners. Similarly, many municipalities have long charged a premium to non-residents wishing to participate in their programs funded in some part by hometown tax dollars.

Newmarket is poring over registration lists from all groups that use its facilities, poised to impose a fee scale based on residency status starting in the new year.

The details for a service pricing policy are already before town council for approval.

“I think the intent is honourable,” said Randy Henderson, the Aurora-based president of the Newmarket Redbirds lacrosse program, which is, by definition, a regional team since its membership includes significant numbers of players from surrounding communities. “I’m just cautiously optimistic it doesn’t cost us too much.”

Regional programs such as the Redbirds and York Simcoe Bucs football organization, which are comprised of players from a wide range of centres, are in line for the hardest hits.

Rare is the sports organization that can boast 100 per cent home-grown participants. There will always be a few non-residents playing outside of their hometown for whatever reason.

It’s not that Newmarket is being particularly heavy-handed. Moreso that it is asking non-residents to pay a bit more in order to keep costs reasonable to residents.

“I can see where they are coming from ... why build these facilities then not have your own residents using them,” Henderson said.

There is no question residents of Newmarket benefit from non-residents participating in their sporting activities. Certainly, programs such as the Redbirds and Bucs would be hard-pressed to operate at their current standards if the gates to the town were sealed off to outsiders. Groups were informed of the pending fees hike at community sport-listening sessions hosted by the town earlier this month.

Once increases are officially approved, groups will be compelled to pass on the costs to their members. A critical determining factor will be how many non-residents participate in each organization.

“We’ve met with the groups and told them how it would be rolled out,” said Newmarket’s commissioner of community services, Rob Prentice. “We’ve worked hard to to show what our policy is and where the fees are going. And we have got good messages back from the groups.”

Essentially, it is the increasingly high cost of participating in sports

“I think the objective is to pay for services,” said Tim Brown, president of the Newmarket Baseball Association which, by the rules of the York Simcoe Baseball Association, permits its rep teams to use non-residents on a limited basis.

The municipality initially met with sports organizations in 2006 to unveil a five-year plan to implement recovery rates from its facilities.

At the time, outdoor facilities such as ball diamonds and multi-use fields were lagging far behind arenas in terms of cost recovery.

Without question, it is a game of catch-up for field facilities where user groups have for years enjoyed the tremendous luxury of paying far less to participate than their indoor counterparts. For instance, there is no comparison between the cost of placing a child in hockey versus soccer or baseball.

For the sake of the latter sports, let’s hope someone with a sharp pencil at town hall doesn’t decide to boost their fees to match the winter sports.

Mind you, the cost of operating a rink far exceeds the money to maintain a ball diamond or soccer pitch.

For starters, resurfacing is not required every hour.

Regional organizations that provide a gathering point not only for members of the community, but also for non-residents whose presence contributes to the operation of programs have reason to be antsy as they await the outcome.

“I’m not saying this is going to kill our program, but it will be a huge cost to us,” said Frank Ciraco, president of the York Simcoe Bucs which have operated since 1995 and include nearly 500 members in its house league and rep programs.

“We’re a regional program. There is no football in Aurora or Keswick so the kids come here. (It’s) probably 40 per cent of our program.”

That said, Ciraco points to the notion parents of non-residents often drop their kids off at the park for practices and pre-game preparation, often before visiting shopping centres and/or food outlets, thereby putting monies into the community.

“What it means is we won’t be able to sponsor as many kids,” he said.

“It’s not like other sports (such as) baseball or soccer that are offered in every town.”

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