Halls, arenas and dollars and cents
Equalizing ice rental rates across the four Grey Highlands arenas is one among many changes approved by council on Mar. 20.
“We’re looking to have a level playing field across the municipality – there’s no need to compete with ourselves,” said Deputy Mayor Dane Nielsen.
Staff will bring back an updated Fees and Charges bylaw for final approval to council.
ARENA RATES
Coun. Tom Allwood said that the increases in ice rental were not great.
He later made a motion which was supported by council to remove all discounts for ice times. Originally, there was to be a 20 percent discount for groups that book more than 50 hours a season. Director Michele Harris said that there is an up-front commitment made by hockey teams for the season, so there is an expectation of a discount.
Coun. Allwood commented that if the ice rental discount were to be removed, the people who use the rink would be paying for more of the cost. He noted that taking that measure would be a response to comments about arena from ratepayers who don’t use them.
He added that the revenue could be a step toward to keeping all four ice surfaces.
Mayor Paul McQueen made a motion that was supported to review the fees and charges bylaw annually. Council heard that some of the costs had not been updated since 2012.
Mayor McQueen asked if a group is having an event to raise money for community purposes, how the situation would be handled. Director Michele Harris said that use could be arranged through the Community Grant Program. A related report on the grant program has been referred to Committee of the Whole for more discussion.
HALL USE
The Mayor asked about cleaning costs for halls and suggested there be an agreement that groups “leave it the way they found it.”
Ms Harris said that the new facility costs are “to take in the full cost of operations including cleaning time.”
Said the mayor, “if we’re doing the forensics on this, we need all the numbers.”
2023 year-end costs were not included, as they are not yet available, Ms Harris said. The last usage report was in May, 2023, when 2022 year-end figures were available.
PROGRAMS & HALL USE
The agreement between the municipality and the SEGCHC is $50,000 per year, expiring Mar. 31, 2026, to supply minimum of 20 hours per week of free seniors programs, using its own space and throughout the municipality at its buildings.
The CHC has costs to administer and track the programs. As of Mar. 31, 1,860 group sessions with more than 20,000 individual uses in those programs were logged.
The CHC only gets provincial money to provide primary care, not programs. Coun. Allwood said that to pay an admin staff at the municipality to track all those programs would be costly.
The Deputy Mayor commented that all of the community groups also are partners in providing programs.
NEW PRICING POLICY
The framework for pricing drew most of council’s attention with not much discussion of the actual rates.
Deputy Mayor Nielsen said that council is looking at the fee schedule because of the increasing costs of running facilities, both operating and capital.
Coun. Nadia Dubyk asked about the non-resident fee, and Ms Harris said Southgate and many other areas do charge a non-resident fee. She added that Grey Highlands is taking on rentals from outside, but that shouldn’t be a burden on the ratepayers.
Flesherton and Markdale already have a non-resident charge, but the other two arenas do not, she said.
West Grey contributes to Stothart Hall so its residents should not be charged a non-resident fee, Coun. Paul Allen noted.
ALCOHOL
Coun. Joel Loughead asked about whether a step could be taken so that the municipality could provide the insurance for the hall when there is alcohol served.
If the municipality takes that on to licence halls, that leads to liability risk, and would require events fully-staffed by municipal employees with Smart Serve, the CAO said.
Right now, renters can purchase the Party Alcohol Liability insurance to insure their event. Coun. Loughead observed that it is a third step, in addition to the hall rental, and the alcohol licence.
FEE STRUCTURE
Community Hall pricing would be by the size of hall. The same rental rate would apply to all ice surfaces. Many but not all fees proposed follow. The full schedule is in the Mar. 27 council agenda.
FEES
The fee schedule will come back to council for approval by bylaw, following direction given.
Proposed rates:
ICE TIME – All four arenas – prime $132/hr; Non-prime $88/hr
SMALL HALL – includes Kimberley, Stothart and Osprey meeting room – No alcohol $45 /hr. With Alcohol - $54; meeting rate $70 in non-prime time.
LARGE HALL – includes Osprey Hall, Markdale Hall, Flesherton Kinplex and Rocklyn Hall - $50/hr. without alcohol and $60 without alcohol.
ARENA FLOOR RENTALS. Hourly rate $60 without alcohol and $72/hr with alcohol. Present support from the municipality of uses for Fall Fairs in Osprey, Rocklyn and Markdale would continue.
Discounts as discussed – 20 percent for community groups that register with the municipality; 20 percent for non-prime time. No stacking of discounts.
DISCOUNTS
The maximum discount offered will be 20 percent.
Rates differ between prime and non-prime. Prime time runs Friday at 4 p.m. to Sunday midnight.
-Twenty percent discounts will be available for community, volunteer or not-for-profit groups, for non-prime use or for a longer hall booking (over seven hours).
A 20 percent discount will be available for meetings in non-prime hours, so that if a community group wasn’t approved for an in-kind use of a facility through the community grant program this would be an affordable way to access facility - $70 flat rate, no matter the size of halls.
ASSOCIATED FEES
A non-refundable deposit of 25 percent of the rental fee must be received 10 days before booking, and the cleaning - damage deposit is raised from $250 to $500.
SET-UP
The fee for chair set-up and tear-down is proposed to change to $70 per hour rather than $100 flat fee. This would be an additional service only if requested.
M.T. Fernandes, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Flesherton Advance
