Township considering user fees for neighbours

A report is expected soon following a special finance committee meet­ing with Southgate Town-ship regarding non-resident user fees for the Mount Forest and district Sports com­plex.

As Wellington North councillors discus­sed the mat­ter at their Dec­ember meeting, Mayor Mike Broomhead noted his presentation of information regarding minor Sports registrations.

A chart showing the number and percentage of users for various Sports groups was also presented at the special meeting.

The minutes of the public portion of that meeting held earlier had Southgate Mayor Don Lewis’ comment that the figures seemed similar to that of the fire assessments.

Broomhead said in order to set the user rates, the municipality needs to first de­termine how the rates would be applied. There first needed to be a determination of how many people from the municipalities of West Grey and South­gate “actually use our facility,” the mayor said.

Then, he said, there is a formula to determine what the operating costs of the facility would be. He said it would be similar to methods used dealing with fire agreements.

As a result, each of those municipalities would have a specific percentage of costs allocated – but that amount still needs to be determined.

“There was kind of a hang-up there,” Broomhead explained, “because under the Freedom ­of Information and Privacy Act, it’s not just as easy as saying who specifically uses which arena.”

The closed part of that discussion was held because the numbers were connected with registration lists that identify individuals.

Broomhead said the meeting also involved a financial agreement which had yet to be finalized. As of that meeting, councillors had yet to discuss the matter with West Grey Township.

Broomhead hoped the West Grey meeting would be soon, since now is the time when most municipalities are looking at their finances for the coming year.

 

 

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