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As an analogy, Tiny Township council intentionally walked their local minor baseball associations asking for free park rentals this year, but won't allow them to steal second until they can provide past financial reasoning showing the rental fee waive helps.
At the recent Tiny Township committee of the whole meeting, most members were in agreement to letting kids play ball with minimal expense for the upcoming baseball season.
A previous request in 2019 by the Toanche and Wyevale Parks and Recreation Associations along with the Lafontaine Minor Ball Association asked for a waiving of rental fees for ball diamonds, and exclusive use of their respective snack shacks, for the complete term of council; that was approved.
For the 2023 season, the three minor ball associations made another request for the same deal to the new council. Within the accompanying staff report, the total lost revenue for the 2023 season between May and August was estimated at $11,600 which wouldn’t impact the operating budget.
Staff recommended that the fees be waived for this year, over another option that the associations pay a discount rate as they had in the past.
“Within the report, we note that we have not received all their financials and all their paperwork at this point,” public works director Tim Leitch told the committee, “but we wanted to make sure because there’s a three-week delay while this is approved that we can get them, so that they’re ready to go when their season starts and there’s no delays.”
Leitch pointed out that as the association was recovering from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on outdoor activity and the group, the one-year repeat for rental fee waiving would support youth and sports within the township.
Committee members supported the kids, but not everyone was on board with the numbers.
Mayor Dave Evans pointed out that he had no problems with the rental fee waiving for the ball diamond use.
“I do have a little bit of a problem though – ethically – giving them commercial licence to sell product,” said Evans. “If we’re giving them free rent to run a commercial operation, so to speak, albeit baseball diamonds, going back to – sorry – the 10.8 per cent increase in taxes, I think they bear some responsibility for the cost.”
He continued by noting that the cost to operate and maintain the fields and ballparks would be borne by Tiny taxpayers; a later question clarified that the sporting grounds were some of the most used facilities in the township.
“If you’re going to be selling product and selling items and making 100 per cent profit on our land, we should be getting a share of that,” Evans added.
While Evans may have been alone in his assertion on the snack shack waive (approximately $1,070 in lost rental revenue for 2023), his point reached other committee members who expressed interest in learning the financial records for the three associations, ranging from the past one to three years.
Leitch reminded the committee that the association would only be able to set the annual fee knowing which option was passed by the committee to be ready in the weeks ahead when formal Tiny council approved the matter.
Coun. Dave Brunelle said that township youth had suffered over the winter due to poor weather that didn’t provide ice time in the outdoor rinks, as well as noting low attendance at a baseball game last season.
“We did go through a pandemic,” said Brunelle. “I attended one of the games last year and it was kind of a sore sight to see. I would encourage council to waive all fees just to help the minor baseball program get back on its feet.”
Coun. Kelly Helowka added that through his past experience within minor ball associations, waived fees and generated revenue helped to cover costs for umpires and play equipment.
“If they supply us with their financial paperwork for the year end of 2022, I am fully supportive of not charging them a red nickel,” said Helowka. “We have to get our community back into the swing of things – COVID certainly gave us a big hit – and I don’t think we should start with the kids. I think we want to encourage every child, whether they can afford it or not, the opportunity to get out into the fresh air. I think the onus is on us to fully support them.”
Deputy Mayor Sean Miskimins admitted he was unsure which way to side as he saw merit in the extensive tax burden on the township, but the inexpensive cost of the youth sport for young families. Making a pitch to see the association financial records was of importance to him, however.
“If it (waiving rental fees) is helping them to an unfair advantage, I think that’s where we have a duty to the taxpayers here,” said Miskimins.
Evans further noted the loss of revenue on the snack shack could be put toward other charities such as those listed earlier in the day for the Mayor’s Charity Golf Tournament, and that the group ball associations might want to consider being added to the upcoming mayor’s task force if they were looking to receive in-kind donations.
The committee approved the staff option to waive the ball rental fees for the year and give exclusive rights of the snack shacks to the associations, with the decision sent for ratification at an upcoming regular meeting of council.
The minor baseball fee waiving public works report can be found in the agenda page located on the Tiny Township website.
Archives of council meetings are available to view on Tiny township’s YouTube channel.
