Pricing model review for three municipal services shows below average fees

Every two years, the Town of Whitecourt reviews the fees charged to residents to use the Allan & Jean Millar Centre and Scott Safety Centre. Fees stretch from a single drop-in admission to rental of the facilities. The review compares other facilities to see where Whitecourt sits with the current pricing model.

The communities/facilities used in the most recent review were Spruce Grove/Tri Leisure, St. Alberta/Servus Credit Union Place, Fort Saskatchewan/Dow Centennial Centre, Bonnyville/Centennial Centre, Leduc/Recreation Centre, Sherwood Park/Millennium Place, Red Deer/Collicutt Centre, Grande Prairie/Eastlink Centre, Fox Creek/FCG Multiplex, Slave Lake/Multi Rec Centre, and the Allan & Jean Millar Centre.

The review looked at rates for daily admission, ten visit pass, monthly, and annual. It also looked at rates for corporate membership, cost of child mind, use of the indoor playground, meeting room booking rates, fieldhouse rental, swimming pool lane rentals, and arena rental fees. One final category examined whether daily admission rates included access to complimentary fitness classes (yes, at the AJMC). Also, part of the fee review, but separate from the fees mentioned above, was the cost to use Whitecourt Transit, from cash fares, monthly passes, ticket books, and annual passes.

“The Community Services Advisory Board (CSAB) completes a review every two years. They had an opportunity to complete the review at their December meeting. The CSAB is recommending that a few areas of fees be increased. Those are areas where the fees could be shared across many so that it doesn’t have as much of an impact. Also, they were the areas that were the lowest in our fee review,” explained Chelsea Grande, Director of Community Services.

Grande said that the CSAB recommended increasing ice fees, swim club rental lane fees, youth full-service and adult fieldhouse rentals, sportsfield tournament rates, and day-use rates. “These fees are being recommended to come into effect on May 1, 2023, so that we can give notice and also have it in line with our Community Spectrum that goes out for the spring edition,” explained Grande.

The current price for Youth Non-Prime rental of the Scott Safety Centre is $64.51. The proposed change would bring the fee up to $68.36. Adult Non-Prime is currently $127.03 and is proposed to increase to $134.61. For primetime bookings at the Scott Safety Centre, youth is $89.82, and adult is $152.84. The change for youth would increase to $95.18, and the adult fee would increase to $161.96.

Grande said the board chose group-related increases on purpose. “For example, Minor Hockey has 300 players. So, when you look at that, it has very little impact because that fee is spread across so many that the adjustment would be minimal. Whereas a membership, all of that is going to affect that one person.”

The cost for swim club lane rentals at the AJMC is $12.50. The increase proposed would bring the price up to $13.25, a difference of .75/lane. The tournament rate at the AJMC is proposed to increase from $223.31/weekend to $297, while the Day Use booking is proposed to change from $54.59 to $72.60.

The last change recommended by the CSAB affects the use of the fieldhouse space. Youth-full is presently at $79.95 with a recommended rise to $84.72, while Adult Full is at $101.24 with a recommendation to increase to $107.28. Partial rentals are recommended to rise from $2.34 to $3.50 depending on the area chosen, whether half or one-third of the fieldhouse.

Councillor Paul Chauvet asked how the AJMC was doing now compared to before restrictions. “With the lockdowns and everything, we took such a beating. Where are we at as far as the percentage of people coming back?”

Grande said the Electronic Fund Transfers (EFTs) at the AJMC are lower than before. These are membership or reoccurring payments from patrons. “That’s where we are seeing the biggest impact. When you look at our revenue, right now we are still about $80,000 under in revenue than what we have usually budgeted in the past at the AJMC.”

She added that they are working on a marketing campaign to boost EFT numbers. “That is one reason that the CSAB is recommending we don’t change our membership fees or our EFT fees.” She said they would focus on ways to build memberships back up as they are at about half the numbers today compared to 2016-2018.

For daily/monthly/annual admission rates, the AJMC is under the average rate between the listed community/facilities for every area except senior. However, most facilities do not distinguish between seniors and super seniors and charge all seniors a set rate. The AJMC provides a reduced rate for those 80+. Even with the proposed increases, meeting room and Fieldhouse rental rates remain below average. If passed by Whitecourt Town Council at an upcoming meeting, the changes are expected to generate $17,340 annually.