Town passes fees bylaw regarding all-access recreational passes
By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The Town of Strathmore gave third and final reading to Bylaw 23-34, being a fees amending bylaw, during the Nov. 15 regular meeting of Council.
During the Oct. 4 regular meeting of council, Town Administration was directed to provide additional pricing options related to a one-month, three-month, six-month, nine-month, 10-time pass, and 30-time pass all-access memberships to utilize recreational facilities throughout the town.
Administration presented to council during the Nov. 1 with the requested additional pricing options, excluding the nine-month all-access membership offering.
Council approved the additional all-access membership options presented, and motioned to direct administration to amend the fees bylaw to include the newly created membership options.
Coun. Richard Wegener asked following a brief presentation by administration whether if due to vacation or injury, passes purchased could be put on hold so as to maximize available use for clients.
“We do allow patrons to freeze memberships for medical reasons, so yes, if it was a medical reason, we would allow them to freeze it and contact us when they are able to use it again and we would reactivate that,” said Leana Ashbacher, manager of financial services. “Over COVID-19, we did freeze memberships as well, obviously that is another unforeseen situation, so if anything like that were to arise again, we would freeze in that instance as well.”
In cases of recreational absence, such as if a patron were to go on vacation, they would not be allowed to put a freeze on their pass.
According to the report presented to council by administration, the amended bylaw provides clear and transparent rates to allow the town to operate and ensure stable revenue from this particular source.
Following the passing of the bylaw, town staff need to be made aware of the additional membership options, and the new options must be added to the town’s recreation software system.
Administration has noted it is unknown whether the changes will provide an increase in revenue associated with the new membership options. Conversely, the town may experience a revenue decrease from this source instead.
The original idea was to be able to provide a consistent rate for patrons to be able and allowed to access all of the town’s recreational facilities with one pass, rather than paying different rates multiple times for various services.
During the regular meeting, council voted to hold all three readings to amend the bylaw, which required unanimous consent to permit third reading during the same session.
More information regarding the all-access passes and fees, as well as prices can be found through the Town of Strathmore website.