The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Now accepting registrations! 2489 Lakeshore Road West, Oakville Bronte Harbour Nursery School CALL OR EMAIL TODAY! Classes are filling quickly 905-465-3508 bronteharbour@hotmail.com Toddlers: 18 months - 2 years Preschoolers: 2 - 5 years 2, 3 or 5 mornings per week Bronte Harbour Nursery Schoolwhere every single child is valued, supported, encouraged and treasured. 7 Friday, Septem ber 30, 2011 O A K V ILLE B EA V ER w w w .in sid eH A LTO N .co m By David Lea OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF User fees for renting playing fields and pools from the Town of Oakville may be going up over the next few years as the Town aims to achieve better levels of cost recovery from its facilities. The Towns Community Services Committee voted Tuesday to approve the phased-in fee increases, which will see rates for adult field rentals raised five per cent a year from their current level of $21.68 to $26.61 in 2015. The decision will be rati- fied by Town Council at its meeting Monday. Youth field rental rates will increase from $8.28 to $10.06 by 2015. Pool rental rates for adults will increase from $128.76 to $156.51 by 2015 while pool rental rates for youths will increase from $65.23 to $79.39 by 2015. I think it is fairly fair what we are trying to do, said Ward 4 Town and Regional Councillor Allan Elgar. When you look at right now on a pool rental we are subsidizing 86 per cent and on a playing field rental were at 94 per cent. I think we have to do a little bit better and I think staff have done a good job at phasing this in at a slow basis. The Towns ultimate cost recovery goal is to eventu- ally get adult field rental rates within the $46.39- $56.21 area, the youth field rental rates within the $23.20-$28.11 area, the adult pool rental rates at $174.60 and youth pool rental rates at $87.30. There is currently no set timeline as to when the Town expects to achieve this ultimate cost recovery goal. The proposed rate increases will come before council for final approval on Monday. During her presentation to the committee, the Towns Director of Recreation and Culture Nina de Vaal said the pro- posed increases will bring Oakvilles rental fees in line with those of a number of surrounding communities. Town staff compared rental fees in Mississauga, Milton, Halton Hills and Burlington and found that in the area of two-hour sports field rentals Oakvilles rates are currently among the lowest at $21.68 for adults and $8.28 for youth. The average rental fee was found to be $23.60 for adults and $10.29 for youth. It was a similar story when it came to hour rent- als of six lane pools with Oakvilles fees standing at $65.23 for club rates and $128.76 for community rates while the average in the surveyed communities was $83.08 for club rates and $146.20 for community rates. De Vaal said it was ini- tially decided to increase fthe rates over a period o eight to 12 years to achieve fthe cost recovery levels o Town fees to rent pools and fields set to rise 50 per cent among youth sports field users, 100 per cent among adult sports field users and 125 per cent among commercial sports field users. The initially proposed fee increases were also aimed at achieving a cost recovery level of 25 per cent among pool users. Consultations with numerous sports groups, however, found the pro- posed rate increases rose too high too quickly, plac- ing the groups in danger of financial hardship. The messages we got from the field user groups were pretty consistent. Many of the clubs are rath- er small and they did not have the critical mass to absorb the fee increases as they were recommended, said de Vaal. There was a concern that some of the players that are involved in some of the field sports are those who may not be able to afford an expensive sport like hockey and any kind of increases might exclude some of the players. Some clubs suggested they might experience decreased enrollment and ultimately not be able to survive as a club. The pool groups report- ed similar fears. With this in mind the committee voted, Tuesday, to increase Oakville rates to rapidly bring them in line with the neighbouring rates and then initiate a review period to examine that impact. At that time a decision can be made whether to continue along the same path towards the ultimate cost recovery goals. The committee also rec- ommended the introduc- tion of a discount on Town room use for groups asso- ciated with a tournament that comes to Oakville. De Vaal said this recom- mendation was brought forward in recognition of all the positive economic impacts tournaments have when held in Oakville. Oakville Mayor Rob Burton said the fee increas- es are necessary and warned residents more may be in the offing. The reality is that cir- cumstances are very likely to force us to look at this every year and in fact we may have to revisit how generously we subsidize these things, he said. Almost eight per cent of municipal property tax raised in Oakville goes to subsidize Toronto and the Provinces welfare costs and the Provinces court security costs. This was even higher from 1998- 2007 and it has been reduced about one seventh each year since 2007. Most, including all of the Toronto subsidy, would be gone by 2013 under the agreement between AMO (Associat ion o f Municipalities of Ontario) and the Province. If this relief from subsi- dizing Toronto ends, Burton predicted property tax increases and fee hikes. Councillor Allan Elgar Mayor Rob Burton The reality is that circumstances are very likely to force us to look at this every years and, in fact, we may have to revisit how gener- ously we subsidize these things. Mayor Rob Burton I think it is fairly fair, what we are trying to do...I think we have to do a little bit better and I think staff have done a good job at phasing this in at a slow basis. Allan Elgar, Ward 4 councillor Speak up! You can comment on any story in today's Oakville Beaver at oakvillebeaver.com