Everything costs money, including field maintenance and eventual replacement. And yes, in addition to cash gained through taxation, Squamish field users - adults and kids - should pay a little more than others for the fields we have and set aside cash for new ones down the road.
But Bri Oliver is right: Parents shouldn't have to choose which sport their children play and which they don't simply because registration fees are too high. For that reason, we think any field-user fee for youth sports should be kept to a minimum - say, no more than $10 more per child, per season.
Like public transportation systems, municipal sports and recreation facilities will never pay for themselves through user fees. For that to occur, a ticket to ride the bus downtown would probably cost $10 or $15, and each child playing soccer would probably pay $200 or $300 in registration fees. That's why transit is "public" and fields and rec centres are "municipal" - they're meant to be maintained with taxpayer dollars, for everyone's benefit. Do some benefit more than others? No doubt. But can you imagine what the social costs would be if we didn't have them? We can, and it wouldn't be pretty.
In the aftermath of the sub-prime mortgage meltdown in the U.S., some American cities and towns were forced to cut back on all but essential services -police, fire, tax collection -because tax revenues were way, way down. We're not facing that sort of crisis here, but because of our residential-heavy tax base, looming infrastructure deficit and belt-tightening among senior levels of government, Squamish council needs to keep costs down if it's to keep service levels at or near present levels. It's looking for ways to reduce the burden on property taxes.
We get that, which is why we're not averse to having users pay a little more. The problem comes about when you start tacking $40 or more onto soccer or ball registration fees -already $60 to $110 for a two-month season of Howe Sound Minor Ball and around $80 (house league) or $180 (travel) for Squamish Youth Soccer. Much more than a nominal hike would be a serious deterrent for most parents - who already, by the way, pay property taxes.
The days of "cheap" youth sports are probably long gone. But downloading the entire problem onto today's parents isn't the answer to the district's problem.
- David Burke
