April 13, 2017 · 1 Comments
By Mike Pickford
Just a few short weeks on from Orangeville Council’s decision to ramp up its emergency services rates for neighbouring municipalities and one local councillor is calling for a similar increase in charges for use of the town’s recreation facilities.
Coun. Don Kidd, who also serves as the chair of the Town’s recreation committee, expressed his belief that residents of Mono, Amaranth and East Garafraxa “were not paying their fair share” to make use of facilities based in Orangeville.
“Whenever I speak to my cousins out in these communities – and there’s a lot of them – they know how great a deal they’re getting with these rates,” Coun. Kidd said. “There’s a rising number of people from Mono, Amaranth and East Garafraxa making use of our facilities, but they’re not paying for them.”
The discussion took place as council deliberated over its 2017 and 2018 parks and recreation rates, which culminated in an “inflationary increase” of 1.5 percent for 2017 and 2.3 percent for 2018. The new rates cover everything from instructional and aquatic programs to ice, pool, floor and park rentals. Costs for activities such as drop-in skating, public swimming, shinny, figure skating and hockey skills testers will not be affected.
With facilities such as the Alder Street and Tony Rose Arenas, Orangeville has long been considered the central service hub for much of Dufferin County.
Coun. Kidd called on the Town’s Director of Parks and Recreation, Ray Osmond, to reach out to the aforementioned municipalities to try to form a “new and improved” agreement, however Coun. Scott Wilson called on Coun. Kidd to take the initiative and organize the meetings himself in his role as chair of Orangeville’s recreation committee.
“I would make a motion that the chairman of that particular committee approach the different municipalities to begin discussions on how recreation users can pay a fair share,” Coun. Wilson said. “While I believe our staff would be able to make these approaches, I think if these councils heard from a councillor from the Town of Orangeville it would have much more of an impact.”
Coun. Kidd agreed, stating he just wanted to “get on with” the issue at hand and come to a reasonable resolution, but not before offering a snarky retort to Coun. Wilson.
“Coun. Wilson likes to mention the present day chair of the parks and recreation committee, his former committee. Well, let me say this. He didn’t solve the problem before, but we will now.”
The Parks and Rec Committee can get away with an “inflationary” increase with the rates the way they are so I don’t see how the rural municipalities aren’t carrying their own weight.