With some clubs looking to shave off some of the cost of summer ice rentals, the city is interested in getting creative to find a solution.
In a joint letter to Timmins council, the Timmins Minor Hockey Association, Timmins and District Girls Hockey Association and the Timmins Ringette Association asked for the youth ice rental rate used from October until the end of March to be extended until May 1, 2023. Moving forward, the groups also asked for the youth rates to permanently apply from Sept. 1 to May 1.
While staff suggested sticking with the current summer ice rental rates, council is keen to explore ways to keep kids active. Aside from considering just giving them the ice at the current youth rate, there was also talk about adding an additional $10 to the hourly youth rate to balance out the city's losses.
The item will be back at the next council meeting. That report will include more information on what the increased rates mean for families and have options for council to vote on.
“From my understanding, we seem to have some consensus that we would like to try to make it easier for youth to have access to these kind of recreational activities and so we’d like to try to support these groups in making that possible,” said Mayor Michelle Boileau.
September and April are the most expensive times of year for the city to run its arenas, according to the staff report.
The 2023 summer ice rate is $215.26 per hour and the youth rate is $150.03. The city would lose $64.23 for every hour that it charges at the lower rate, putting the estimated cost of the groups' request at $31,151. That allows for 205 hours of rental booked in April and 280 hours in September.
"Past municipal councils have created and implemented a summer rental rate for the months of April, August and September for a reason. The city loses a tremendous amount of money each year operating our arenas. To illustrate this matter I will provide council with the actual revenues and expenses generated for the past four years at the city's arenas," reads clerk Steph Palmateer's report.
For 2022, the total city loss to run four arenas was $1.1 million, though those numbers haven't been audited yet and may be adjusted. The total loss by arena is:
- Mountjoy - $73,928 ($16,402 in revenue and $90,330 in expenses)
- Whitney - $106,687 ($121,348 in revenue and $228,035 in expenses)
- Sportsplex - $296,807 ($224,182 in revenue and $520,989 in expenses)
- McIntyre - $651,143 ($488,885 in revenue, $1.14 million in expenses)
The issue isn't just about dollars and cents for Coun. Lorne Feldman.
“I’m not so certain recreation should always be a profit centre. This is why people live in this community, this is what we enjoy,” he said.
In his comments, he noted the challenging financial times for everyone and that it's important to consider the totality of the situation.
While the city may be losing money, there is significant revenue being brought in through tournaments, he said.
Feldman wants to improve the situation and get creative to improve the use of the city facilities.
Coun. Rock Whissell offered up one way the city could meet a compromise with the groups.
By increasing the youth hourly rate by $10 per hour and applying it from September to April, he said it would help cover the city's cost of the extra two months and may encourage more teams to be on the ice then as well.
There is a key part of the request from the associations that's missing for Coun. Bill Gvozdanovic, though.
There is no breakdown of how the families paying the fees are being impacted by the ice rates.
He explained, as an example, that if rates are $1,500 the report should show that the cost will be dropped if the city works with the groups.
"That’s where we’re going to make a difference, but we don’t see that in this submission from any of these organizations. That’s important to me. If we’re going to make some adjustments we want to see something from the other side,” he said.
