Subsidy or investment? Recreation user fees could be on the rise in Springwater
By: Wayne Doyle, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Source: BarrieToday.com, Oct 29, 2024
Municipally run recreation programs are all fun and games until somebody has to pay for them. Then it becomes a war between those who use and those who do not. Those who don’t use the services don’t want to pay any more because they’ve already paid their share through their taxes. Those who do use them don’t want to pay more because that’s human nature. They, too, have paid the subsidy through their taxes, but they’re also the ones who are causing the wear and tear, creating the need for the facility to be maintained. Some would consider it fair that they pay for that wear and tear.
For residents in Springwater Township, it hasn’t been much of a topic of discussion over the past couple of years because the municipality’s recreation fees have been frozen. That changed during the township’s most recent council meeting, when council voted to approve new recreation, parks and facilities fees, with the exception of facility rental fees, which will be studied further before any decision to increase them is made. “I thought the idea was we were going to waive and freeze for a year,” Deputy Mayor George Cabral said when the topic came up on council’s agenda. “We’re into year two, so that puts us three years behind the 8-ball.”
According to Dean Collver, Springwater’s director of recreation, parks and facilities, the township initiated a process a couple of years ago to assess what full cost recovery of recreation programs and services might look like. He said as that process was winding down, there was some concern that recreation fees were “irregular” to other fees in other departments.
It was suggested that staff review costs in context of what the market would bear. “We conducted an assessment of the market and where we sit in the market, relative to other municipalities,” Collver told council. In the report Collver prepared for council’s consideration, it was noted that while it’s difficult to develop solid comparisons with other municipalities regarding subsidy rates for specific facility operations, there is a common measuring stick — an annual report that provides high-level comparisons of service investments among Ontario municipalities that is created by BMA Management Consulting, a Hamilton-based firm specializing in municipal financial and management consulting. “This report describes a (2023) Springwater recreation facilities cost per capita of $15 versus a study average of $80,” Collver wrote in the report, which included 101 comparator municipalities. “Expressed differently, Springwater’s expenses related to recreation facilities are approximately 81 per cent lower than the study average.”
Unlike other township services where user fees are applied, Collver said recreation and recreation facilities are understood to provide a social value that supersedes full cost recovery at an individual level. “Affordability is a key consideration given that an overarching purpose of municipal recreation is the support of healthy communities,” he wrote in his report. “Research supports the fact that municipalities that support recreation across the socioeconomic spectrum tend to thrive in terms of overall livability and well-being. “User fees are often identified as the No. 1 barrier to participation,” Collver added.
Collver’s report said economically, municipalities with a higher degree of participation in sports and recreation realized increased spin-off effects in support of local business and in property values. At the same time, recreation facilities are also expensive services for any community, so cost recovery considerations need to remain a significant part of the balancing of benefits. Coun. Matt Garwood said council would have to decide which it thought was more important — providing residents with the facilities that lead a healthy and active lifestyle, or cost recovery. “These are the two different sides of the same coin,” he said.
Collver said subsidies are a difficult concept because it forces council to draw a line in the sand to express in a percentage the value of its commitment to recreation. He said market rate is a viable option. “Break it down into two ideas — market rate and subsidy rate,” Collver told council. “Which is the idea we want to follow and what line do we want to draw in either one. Do we want to be in the middle of the market, or do we want to be at a rate that we can determine collectively?“Breaking it down into those simple ideas may help the conversation and help you with your decision,” he added.
Springwater Mayor Jennifer Coughlin said it’s a difficult decision for council to make. “We need to choose our level of investment, our level of subsidy,” she said. “It really comes down to a matter of what are we willing to put on the regular tax rate and what are we willing to put back to the end user.” Township staff will develop a parks and recreation user fee guideline/policy with input from user groups, residents and stakeholders.
Municipal staff expect to present it to council midway through next year.
Springwater, amid ‘safety hazards,’ OKs plowing of controversial road
By: Wayne Doyle, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Source: BarrieToday.com, Oct 21, 2024
Springwater Township council has directed staff to perform a task the township’s Joint Health and Safety Committee (JHSC) calls a “safety hazard to the public and township staff.” In a recorded vote at the end of a special session of council last week, Councillors Danielle Alexander, Anita Moore and Phil Fisher and Deputy Mayor George Cabral voted to direct “staff to proceed with the winter maintenance on Old Second South, beyond Sutton Heights, using a 4×4 pick up truck.”
Councillors Brad Thompson and Matt Garwood and Mayor Jennifer Coughlin voted against the direction, which included five safety conditions that must be met prior to doing work on that section of road. The decision was not well received by the union representing the workers. “The Local is extremely disappointed with the four members of council who voted to ignore the recommendations of the JHSC and the third-party consultant that was hired to perform this assessment,” said Mike Murphy, president of CUPE Local 2380 in an email to BarrieToday. “It is extremely disheartening that these councillors care so little for the health and well being of their employees,” he said. “Our members are unified in their position that no job is more important than their safety and they are willing to stand up for that,” he added.
According to Murphy, if staff who are directed to perform this work feel their safety is jeopardized in any way, they will refuse. “If staff feel that it is unsafe to maintain this road then the direction from the Local will be to refuse work once again and we shall notify the Ministry of Labour immediately,” he said.
In a report that was co-written by public works director Grant Taylor and Jane Robitaille, the township’s manager of people, safety, learning and employee relations, and presented before council on Sept. 18, the township’s JHSC recommended that winter maintenance on Old Second South, beyond Sutton Heights, “be suspended due to the safety hazards to the public and township staff.” Some Springwater councillors didn’t agree and sought out a legal opinion that supported their view. According to Moore, that legal opinion gave her the confidence she needed to direct staff to do the work on the road. “So, now we’re in a position where we’ve been advised that the use of a 4×4 truck with a plow, and this is our legal opinion, is that it is a medium to low risk, with mitigation measures in place,” she said. “I think that the measures outlined are very reasonable. I will support this,” said Moore. Coughlin would not. In her opinion, the resident of Little Lake Lane, who made the original request for increased maintenance on the road back in 2022, knew where they lived and knew the road did not receive winter maintenance. The resident said his wife needed to be to work by 8 a.m. and he wanted the township to provide the same level of service to his road as they do to all other roads in the township. “This for me, and this is going to sound horrible, this is much like moving beside a chicken barn and complaining about the smell,” she said. You live on a road that does not have winter maintenance and you’re asking this township to now perform winter maintenance.”
Coughlin said this section of Old Second South hasn’t been a part of the township’s regular winter maintenance program since the township was amalgamated in 1994. “I will not support maintaining this road any more than we have prior to last year,” she said. “We haven’t done so for the past 30, 40 or 50 years. “Not quite sure why we’re starting now,” she added.
According to Jeff Schmidt, chief administrative officer for Springwater, the township has six road classifications, based on traffic volumes and speed. The Old Second South, he said, is a “class six” road. Ontario’s Municipal Act, Reg. 239/02: Minimum Maintenance Standards for Municipal Highways (MMS) sets out minimum standards for road and highway maintenance for all municipalities. “Class six roads do not have any prescribed maintenance within the legislation,” Schmidt said. “If council decides to provide winter maintenance we need to discuss what the expectations are for frequency. We have a number of other Class Three, Four and Five roads that have prescribed maintenance within the legislation, this one does not. “This won’t be the first road plowed, it would be later on, unless council directs us to give it a higher priority,” he added.
Cabral, who voted in favour of making staff do the work, said he has no expectations that the township will “race over there and plow the road” ahead of any other township roads. “It’s Class Six,” Cabral said. “If there’s serious snowfall, we understand the priorities. “The key here is are we in the position to provide winter maintenance and based on the report we got today, I think we are.”
Coughlin cautioned council before it made its decision, urging it to think ahead. “The only thing that has changed is the expectation of the resident, not the level of service provided by the township,” she said.
If, while township staff are doing the work on Old Second South, a staff member gets hurt or injured, the union will be there to support them. “If a member is injured while performing this work then all members of council, as well as management, are in a position where they may be open to a lawsuit and the Local will ensure that those responsible are held accountable,” Murphy said. “The fact of the matter is that this legislation is presumptive and speaks to there being no reprisals for refusing unsafe work. “Both our members, as well as management, are both protected by this legislation and our hope is that they use it to stand up to this ridiculous decision by four members of council.”
Springwater puts off request to move forward on community hub
By: Wayne Doyle, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Source: BarrieToday.com, Oct 24, 2024
The path to approve the next stage of Springwater Township’s community hub project has been detoured by Craig Road. A request to approve the next step in the community hub development — a multi-purpose complex that would include an aquatics centre, a library and a gymnasium — at the corner of Bayfield Street and Snow Valley Road in Midhurst has been put off until February of next year.
At the township’s recent council meeting, some members of council struggled with the idea of committing the township to more than $130 million worth of construction — Craig Road ($61 million) and the community hub ($76 million) — despite the fact that both projects will receive funding through Development Charges (DC). Deputy Mayor George Cabral’s fiscal concerns were shared by Councillors Danielle Alexander, Anita Moore and Phil Fisher. “My problem is how do we move forward with two significant projects that are in the tens of millions of dollars,” Cabral said. “For me, I’m having a hard time trying to justify supporting this (community hub request) tonight until I know a little bit more of where we’re at on Craig Road. “How are we going to manage that? I don’t think we’ve been provided with the info that will help me understand how we’ll pay for all of this,” he added. “Craig Road is 100 per cent DC-funded,” said Jeff Schmidt, chief administrative officer for Springwater. “We don’t have those DCs today and so we will have to do some interim financing to make sure we can proceed with that.”
He reminded council that at the last council meeting, council approved staff’s request to submit an application to the provincial government for funding assistance. If accepted, the township could potentially receive up to $20 million to aid in the cost of building the road. Additionally, since the road is slated to become a county road at some point in the future, Schmidt suggested that perhaps, somewhere down the road, the county might be able to assist with some of the funding. “We’ve had discussions with them (Simcoe County) to see if there’s an opportunity for them to assist us, maybe with Phase Two of the project or even Phase One,” Schmidt said.
According to a Craig Road update report prepared by the township’s engineering department that council received on Oct. 2, the township has completed the conceptual design and hired Ainley as its roadway design consultant. The township has also completed the archeological and environmental assessments. The report noted that Phase One is approximately 60 per cent complete but “progress has been impeded as a landowner has not provided the required access to their lands.”
Phase Two design work has started. In regards to the community hub, Schmidt said it too may benefit from funds generated through DCs. He said the township has suggested changes to its DC bylaw that would result in the township receiving DC funds for not only the community hub but also the township’s new fire station on Snow Valley Road. “As those DCs are being collected for Craig Road through those new houses, we will also be collecting DCs for the recreation piece for our community hub,” he said.
He tried to refocus council on the request that was in front of them — the community hub architectural and engineering service project which staff recommended be awarded to Colliers Project Leaders for a cost of $193,530.08 excluding HST. “What we’re asking for is this next stage of this project to proceed,” Schmidt said. “If council agrees with this request tonight, we’re probably looking at the end of this term of council where this portion would be completed and would provide for an opportunity to enhance, if you will, or revise the numbers that have been provided, what Weston had originally provided, to get a little more granular as it relates to both operating and capital costs. “At the end of this stage, council has the opportunity to say ya or nay.”
Schmidt said the report would provide a more detailed analysis of the needs — what the community hub will look like, what the community is requesting and the cost. To give council a clearer understanding of the township’s financial status, Schmidt said staff will update the township’s long range financial plan in 2025, which will provide council with all of the different initiatives the township is working on and provide them with a better understanding of the township finances from a financial sustainability perspective. “I get what you’re saying tonight but I would say, really, this next process is just the next stage to give you more information about this community hub project.” Schmidt reiterated. “It’s not committing you.”
Greg Bedard, director of finance for the township, tried to allay council’s concerns about financing the projects. “Where we’re at now, we’re looking to move forward with Colliers to gain more information to provide those projections to you,” Bedard told council. “We need the up-to-date costing on the project so we can put that into our projections into DCs and when we’re going to collect those: to look at when we’re going to collect, when we’re going to cash flow, what that interim financing looks like. “Right now we don’t have the information needed, with respect to this project, to share with you,” he added.
Bedard said this project, in consultation with some of the DC work council has requested, will give staff the opportunity to provide that information to council in an effort to provide it with a bit more comfort moving forward. Council voted four to three to refer the motion back to staff who will report back to council in February, next year. As part of that report, staff will include the estimated DCs that are anticipated in the next two to five years.