Council approves recreation fee increase

Greg Peerenboom, Special to Seaway News
Council approves recreation fee increase
Cornwall City Hall

CORNWALL, Ontario – On Monday Cornwall Council approved a 1.8 per cent fee increase for all municipal recreation users and to continue existing subsidies in 2021.

The 1.8 percent increase is be identical to the fee increases for years 2017 to 2019.

But for those years, the increase did not require council to approve it. The annual increases were established to automatically occur as part of a 2015 user fee policy and recreation user fees review.

However, this year the decision of how much the city should charge leagues, organizations and individuals rests with council.

Setting a new fee structure falls normally under the duty of the recreation advisory committee, said recreation manager James Fawthrop in a report to council.

Except that, currently this committee does not exist. And its rebirth won’t occur until a new recreation master plan, currently being worked out, is completed.

Unfortunately, completion of the master plan has been delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, but Fawthrop predicts updating the plan will conclude during the fall and be sent to council for approval.

Once a new committee is up and running, one of its main objectives will be to review the user and recreation fees. If the fees are set for 2021, the committee would recommend a new fee schedule for the next four years starting in 2022.

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