Image Credit: Jennifer Stahn
April 18, 2016 - 4:30 PM
KAMLOOPS - City council has given the nod to increasing parks and recreation fees in Kamloops.
At a workshop meeting today, April 18, council voted to increase fees four or five per cent every two years. This came after a recommendation from city administration that the city look at a fee increase to keep up with current costs and budgeting.
City parks and recreation director Byron McCorkell says the increase, which still needs to be passed at a regular council meeting, would take effect in 2017 effecting all users of recreational facilities from individuals to sports leagues. He says an increase to individual fees will be negligible but organizations like hockey leagues will see notably larger bills.
“Our user groups will experience a bigger impact,” he says. “When you look at some of the user groups where their bills are over $200,000 a year, five per cent is a considerable amount of money.”
He says the plan to raise fees every second year allows for leagues and organizations to increase the fees they charge slowly and the long term fee formula allows for long term planning.
Currently the city doesn’t have a regular fee increase plan for recreational services, McCorkell says. Just over 50 per cent of the cost of recreation facilities is covered by fees paid by individual or organized users.
Council also discussed the potential for charging fees to use city boat launches, or pickle ball and tennis courts.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Brendan Kergin or call 250-819-6089 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.
News from © iNFOnews, 2016