MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY — The county has sent a letter to the Town of Didsbury regarding changes in rates and fees at town recreation facilities, reeve Angela Aalbers said Monday.
“While the motion of Didsbury council regarding the changes in user fees did raise some concerns from our county council, we trust our urban partners to follow signed agreements,” said Aalbers.
“The same shared facility agreement that outlines the transfer of county tax dollars to the Town of Didsbury, $465,378 in 2022, also requires that county residents can access those facilities based on (the) current year town of Didsbury rates and fees bylaw. Our expectation is that this will continue.”
During its June 14 meeting, Didsbury council approved updated rates and fees for using some town facilities, including the aquatic centre, the multi-purpose room and the Eldon Foote Hall.
In some cases, the rates are now separated into local and non-local.
For example, group swim lesson rates now include preschool $42 local and $45 non-local; swim kids level 1-4 $45 local and $50 non-local; swim kids level 5-7 $50 local and $55 non-local; swim kids level 8-10 $58 local and $64 non-local.
The one hour pool and classroom rate is now $130 for local and $150 for non-local, both up from the previous rate of $125 per hour.
During the June 14 council meeting, town councillor Bill Windsor asked why the town decided to introduce the local and non-local rates.
In response, manager of community services Nicole Aasen said, in part, “We of course welcome our non-local users, but their tax dollars aren’t supporting these facilities the same way that Didsbury residents are, so this is we felt a fair way to be able to keep our rates lower for our Didsbury residents and do a nominal increase for the non-local rates for outside users.”
