Council approves new town fees
Melissa Strle
Times Reporter
Strathmore town council approved several fee increases within various departments at the town.
Utility rate fees will increase approximately five to nine per cent, and are designed to bring Strathmore rates more in line with City of Calgary fees, according to the town.
The Town of Strathmore purchases water from the City of Calgary. Mel Tiede, director of corporate services for the Town of Strathmore said, “The cost of water has gone up from the city of Calgary significantly over the last three years including this upcoming budget year.”
Currently, the Town of Strathmore’s water deficit sits at $830,000 and the town’s storm sewer deficit sits at $185,000. The operating budget deficit for utilities is just under $1 million, which incorporates the new fee implementation schedule.
“The town purchases approximately 1.5 million cubes of water from the city (Calgary) and we bill for just over 1 million cubes of water so there is certainly a water loss in our operation,” said Tiede.
The average water bill for Strathmore citizens will increase each month by 9.3 per cent.
Tiede explained that in 2016, a customer that uses 15 cubes of water for water, sanitary, sewer, storm and garbage, was charged a rate of $104.83. The new rate will increase that fee to $114.64, which is in line with the current city of Calgary rate of $114.38.
Family Centre
The community services department recommended a 25 per cent increase on all advertising rates and a 10-30 per cent increase on all storage rental rates.
“We want to make sure that our rates are competitive and we’re bringing in as much profit as possible from our advertising,” said Tracy Simpson, community services coordinator with the Town of Strathmore.
According to Simpson, approximately two years ago her department started to do some “really aggressive rate increases” for advertising. She explained this was because the rates had never been looked at for a number of years and the facility was seeing a large demand for advertising.
Currently, advertising spots on the gold side of the arena are all sold and the majority of the wall advertising is sold as well.
Last year, the community and services department invested in a certain type of Plexiglas in the arena that enabled advertising to be installed more easily with less physical installation constraints.
“That really increased our sales,” said Simpson. “We’ve also been more aggressive with having other advertising opportunities in the facility, which includes selling the press box.”
Simpson said the department conducted a comparative study two years ago for storage rates in the facility and the department is “trying to bring those rental rates up to industry standards.”
There will be no changes to ice rates, since there has been a 10 per cent per year increase on ice rates over the last three years.
“Current ice rates for the most part are comparable and competitive,” she said
Civic Centre
Community services recommended a 10 per cent increase on commercial hall and kitchen rentals as well as a 10 per cent increase on all equipment and supply of rentals. However, these increases will not affect any non-profit rental rates in the facility, which will remain the same.
Simpson said the department conducted some fee studies and found that rates were low for the facilities’ commercial rentals.
As such, the department implemented a 10 per cent annual increase on rental rates for non-profits over the last three years and a 20 per cent annual increase on all commercial rates over the last three years.
“One of the challenges of filling the facility as a convention centre during the day is the lack of kitchen access,” said Simpson. “Not many conventions or business style events are going to want to rent the facility without some sort of food service.”
Simpson said community services is currently looking at some options to work around this issue.
Planning and development
A number of planning and development fees increased. Some of the fee increases pertained to fees charged for bylaw amendments, certificates or letters of compliance regarding real property reports, development permits, documents, encroachment agreements and environmental requests.
A new fee was introduced in regards to road closures.
“These fees have not been updated for a number of years and some of them are still out of alignment with what most other places are doing but getting a little closer,” said Werner Fischer, director of planning and development.
According to the planning and development department, planning and development fees in Strathmore were low compared to what other municipalities of a similar size charge their residents. Further, the department stated that the new fee increases are based upon the amount of staff time and attention required.
Aquatic Centre
The community services department is recommending a minimum of one year without any fee increases for aquatic centre users.
“Throughout the 2016 season, we’ve received significant feedback from the community about the cost of recreation and the challenges they’re facing with the downturn in the economy,” said Simpson.
Previously, the facility implemented a 10 per cent annual fee increase over the last three years and this was based on a fee survey that the department conducted three years ago. At the time, the survey revealed that fees were lower than average for comparable facilities.
Cemetery
Legislative services proposed a fee increase to full-sized and cremation-sized plots.
“This will keep our cemetery costs comparable to that of surrounding communities,” said Jennifer Sawatzky, municipal clerk for the Town of Strathmore.
Other costs were included in the fee schedule including an added cost for the tree dedication program.
RCMP
Legislative services brought forward a new fee schedule for RCMP fees. This includes fees for such things as criminal record checks, fingerprinting and insurance letters.
The fee is $15 for any of these services.
“These are the fees that were recommended by the staff sergeant,” said Sawatzky.