The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Flin Flon city council is right to charge higher user fees to non-residents accessing the Aqua Centre. But whether this will have council's desired effect remains to be seen. Effective Sept. 1, Aqua Centre fees will generally be 42 per cent higher for anyone who resides outside of Flin Flon. A non-resident adult, for instance, will pay $6.75 for one-time admission, $2 more than a resident. For a yearly adult pass, non-residents will pay $315.25, which is $93.25 more than a resident. It is not surprising, particularly in these financially distressing times, that the majority of council is on board with the new fee structure. Preliminary figures show that in 2012, Flin Flon taxpayers subsidized the Aqua Centre to the tune of $379,534. They subsidized it for themselves, to be sure, but also for what is surely a significant number of non-residents. As Mayor George Fontaine has correctly pointed out, the Aqua Centre is a regional recreation facility funded by taxpayers from only one part of that region _ the part called Flin Flon. The Flin Flon Public Library already charges a modest non-resident fee of $20 per annum. It does not apply to Creighton and Denare Beach residents, however, since those municipalities financially support the library. The concept of non-resident user fees makes so much sense, in fact, that one wonders why it has taken Flin Flon this long to extend them to the pool. It is not a case of 'picking on' non-residents, as opponents might suggest, but acknowledging fiscal realities and asking those who live outside Flin Flon to pay a little bit more to use a Flin Flon-funded facility. Full disclosure: I live in Flin Flon. Yet if the Aqua Centre happened to be in Creighton or Denare Beach, I would have no problem paying a bit extra to swim, though I would have some concerns about lower-income folks. Revenue-neutral Contrary to popular belief, the immediate goal of the new Aqua Centre fees is not to generate new revenue. Rather, council hopes to stay revenue-neutral while sending what Mayor Fontaine calls 'a message.' '...the major facilities we have, recreational facilities, in this community are funded by (Flin Flon) taxpayers and used by all kinds of other people as well,' he said last week, 'which is something we want to continue to happen, but we are encouraging other communities and other community levels to join us in some kind of a (funding) package that would allow us not to have to do the kind of thing that we're doing now (implementing non-resident fees). The best is if we can come to some agreements like that. ' Council, it seems, hopes the fees will serve as leverage as it attempts to negotiate recreational funding support from neighbouring communities. In other words, if the municipal governments of Creighton and Denare Beach are willing to contribute cash directly to the Aqua Centre (and other such facilities), then any non-resident user fees will no longer apply to residents of those communities. Such is the case at the library. But could non-resident fees produce a result counter to council's preferred outcome? That is, will Flin Flon's neighbours view the fees as 'problem solved' when it comes to Flin Flonners disproportionately funding facilities used regionally? That is more than possible. Then again, the funding model in place at the library shows that the municipalities of this area are willing to pool their resources in areas of mutual interest. There is certainly room to attempt further pooling of resources; it just has to be done correctly and fairly. Local Angle runs Fridays.
