The City of Estevan's never ending struggle of trying to provide affordable sports and recreation services and remaining fiscally responsible was back in the spotlight recently.
At its regular meeting on Aug. 26, council approved a number of suggestions from the Leisure Service Advisory Board, which recommended increases on everything from ice rental to birthday parties.
Councillor Greg Hoffort, who is a member of the advisory board, said as much as the City desires to keep its rates affordable, there is a delicate balance they have to strike.
"It is a tough balance because whatever the shortfall is on leisure and recreation services, it is borne by the taxpayer of the City of Estevan," Hoffort said. "Therefore the balancing act becomes what portion is it justified to charge the users versus the taxpayers, so that is the balancing act and it is a tough one."
Hoffort said the advisory board deserves credit for coming up with what he feels were manageable increases for the various user groups and helps the City achieve a better cost recovery rate.
According to the report presented at council the cost recovery rate for 2012 was 46 per cent, which was up from 34.90 per cent in 2011. Of note, Spectra Place had a recovery rate of 51 per cent while the Civic Auditorium was 36 per cent. The Estevan Leisure Centre rate - which does not include Spectra Place and the Icon Centre activities - was 31 per cent.
"The goal of the present council right now is to give great diligence to our finances and this is in keeping with that," he said. "What we are trying to learn - and the new city treasurer is just getting to work on this - is the cost recovery on each of these. It's not the same for all of them. Once we have that information, council can then really digest it and try and get to where we are achieving some consistency.
"We also, at the leisure services board, give a lot of discussion to those services that aren't City supported; groups like taekwon-do, gymnastics and dance. Groups in those sports aren't subsidized by City taxpayers. To get to the exact (cost-recovery) number is something we have put in the hands of the city treasurer to get at."
Among the increases approved by council was a 21 per cent hike in the minor ice group rate, which bumps the cost from $70 an hour to $85. For summer hockey or figure skating schools, the rental costs for private groups were increased by 21 per cent while non-profit groups saw their rate jump by 37 per cent. With the increases, both groups will now pay $175 for an hour of ice time.
Other highlights among the increases approved by council were:
The cost of holding a birthday party in the multi-purpose room rose by 35 per cent to $75 for a two hour rental.
The cost of the splish splash birthday party package in the RM of Estevan Aquatic Centre will rise to $75, an increase of 76 per cent.
Multi-purpose room hourly rates will increase to $50 an hour and $250 for the entire day.
The rental price paid by local swim clubs will increase from $56 an hour to $75.
Hoffort said with the increases, Estevan's rates remain on par with, or lower, than communities such as Yorkton, Weyburn, Swift Current, Melville and Moose Jaw, which is something the advisory board looked at during their deliberations.
"We were quite behind some of the (communities) and going at three to five per cent a year just wasn't going to ever get us there in some comparisons. There were some substantial increases that we think will be palatable but at the same time will get us to the point where we can keep up with inflation and rising costs so the user groups can in the future expect lesser increases."
