Proposed cuts to recreation fees could take money away from programs that aim to improve access to athletic facilities.
Low-income residents won’t find it any easier to get active if the three mayoral frontrunners follow through on their promise to freeze the fees required to play sports, recreation organizers in the city say.
Incumbent Larry O’Brien and challengers Jim Watson and Clive Doucet have all said the plan, which would ensure the cost to rent time at a baseball field or ice at a local arena remains the same, will make Ottawa a healthier city by making recreation more affordable.
But the policy, if adopted, will do little to address the barriers lower-income residents already face in trying to get onto the ice or field.
“If you’re working as an adult full-time and you have a good job in the private or public sector, paying out $500 for your winter of playing hockey probably doesn’t hurt you too much,” says Carman Cox, head of the Ottawa Senior Men’s Hockey League.
“Where it does hurt is if you’re in a lower income bracket or you’re a university student.”
Cox says each of the past few years they’ve been forced to raise the fees players need to pay because the cost of renting ice from city-owned facilities, such as the Tom Brown Arena, has gone up.
Many university students who used to play in the league couldn’t register this year because the costs were getting to high for them, Cox says.
But the league still sold out since the sport remains popular with those who can pay.
“Even with a freeze there’s still going to be a whole lot of families that still cannot afford the current fees,” says Scott Bradford, executive director of the Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa, an organization that offers affordable recreation programs to kids, regardless of their family’s income.
This year, the club decided the only way to ensure better access to their programs was to do away with fees entirely.
The organization, which is dependent on the city for about 40 per cent of its funding, hopes to make up the lost revenue through fundraising.
But the proposed freeze could also take money away from programs aimed at improving access for lower income residents like university students because the cost of operating recreation facilities in the city continues to rise.
Jennifer Brenning, director of recreation and athletics at Carleton University, said in an email that the cost of utilities such as electricity, sewer and water have been a “significant factor” in contributing to rising operating costs.
Although the university’s recreation facilities are privately operated, the city is facing the same problems.
According to the municipality’s recreation master plan, the document governing recreation programs and facilities in Ottawa, the user fees the city collects are used to fund programs for residents who can’t afford them.
If the plan to freeze fees goes ahead, the city will be forced to pay for rising operating costs out of the budget because the amount of money they take in from fees will remain the same.
With O’Brien and Watson promising to keep taxes as low as possible, it could mean city hall is reluctant to take funds out of the budget and devote them to recreation programs for lower-income residents.
Watson estimates the plan to freeze the fees will cost the city an additional $1 million.
Meanwhile, Cox says many low-income players who usually sign up for his league couldn’t register this year because the costs were getting too high for them.
But the league still sold out since the sport remains popular with those who can pay.
“What I’ve found this winter is university students are saying ‘we can’t afford this anymore,’ which is too bad. These guys want to play with their buddies,” he says.