The Recreation Department co-ordinates and schedules use of all facilities under its mandate, in conjunction with, and at the specific request of independent user groups. In addition, the Recreation Department organizes and provides reasonable recreational programs and special events to the general population. The mandate of the Recreation Department requires all programs, special events, and rentals to be reasonable in terms of cost to the participants. These costs must be established to reflect a commitment from all participants to compensate a reasonable portion of overall expenditures.

Policy\Objective

The Recreation Department will administer, and ensure there is in place at all times, a reasonable rates and charges policy for use in facility rental agreements, and program/special event registrations.

General Regulations

1. All rates and charges for facility rentals will be established through an annual review of facility costs, and in conjunction with the findings of an area survey. Recommendations on the setting of Recreation rates and charges will be completed annually by the Director of Recreation Services and forwarded to the Administrator/Regional Board for consideration and approval prior to the preliminary budget deliberations.

2. The Director of Recreation Services will be responsible for setting reasonable rates and charges for each individual program and/or special event being organized through the Recreation Department. These rates and charges will be entirely dependent on the specific costs of the individual program and/or special event, and will reflect reasonable estimates of participation levels.

3. All proposed rates and charges for facility rentals will reflect a reduced cost to youth participants and groups. In the arena, this youth rental charge will be established at approximately 1/2 of the rate established for the adult rentals, during the ice season only. All other youth rental rates will be established at approximately 2/3 of the established adult rental rate.

4. All proposed rates and charges for program/special event participation will reflect a reduced cost to youth participants and groups, with the exception of instructional classes. The reduced youth program charges will be established at approximately 2/3 of the established adult program charges.

5. It is understood that instructional classes are unique in that costs are consistent for all participants, therefore, all participants of any given instructional class will be charged a similar rate.

6. It is understood that the senior population generally has reduced access to disposable income, and therefore, all rates and charges applied to the senior population will be similar to those charged to the youth participants.

8. For the purposes of this policy, preschool participants are those 0 to and including 5 years of age, youth participants are those 6 to and including 18 years of age, adult participants are those 19 to and including 60 years of age, and senior participants are those 61 years of age and over.

Specific Regulations

1. Extended consecutive rental of any specific area of the facilities for a period of 5 hours will result in a discount in charges being applied to the group responsible for the rental. In the case of ice rentals only, the discount applied to the 5 hour rental cost will be approximately 10%. In all other cases the discount applied to the 5 hour rental cost will be approximately 20%.

2. 10 strip admission systems will reflect a 25 cent per session saving. 40 strip admission systems will reflect a 50 cent per session saving.

3. All additional facility service costs will be incorporated into the hourly rental rates. The only exceptions to this will be the charges applied for photocopying, and the charges for an additional lifeguard to supervise large swimming pool or birthday party rentals.

4. All damage deposits will be set at $100.00 and, providing this damage deposit is not applied to unusual repairs, will be applied to the rental charges.