Sports team looking for alternatives after Cornwall hikes fees
Fee for the Terry Fox Sport Complex increased from $25 to $35 an hour for minor sports leagues
A recent decision by the Cornwall town council to raise fees for minor sports clubs' use of the Terry Fox Sport Complex has at least one club looking at paying higher prices or finding a new home.
"We were pretty upset about it," said Jonathan Gauthier, president of the Eliot River Ramblers Soccer Club (RSC), a non-profit, community based, youth soccer club.
Gauthier said the club had been using the Terry Fox Soccer Complex at an agreed rate of $10,000 for 350 hours for the past six years but at a recent Cornwall town council meeting, it was recommended that the user fee for all minor sports increase by $10 an hour.
This means the annual fee for the RSC would go from $12,500 to more than $22,000.
The Town of Cornwall said the higher fees are needed to maintain the facilities.
"We're needing to replace the turf field in the next year or two," said Jill MacIsaac, member of the Cornwall town council, about the decision. "That's going to come at a higher cost."
MacIsaac said it costs a total of $137,000 a year to operate and maintain the field.
"The turf fields are staffed. That all has to come from somewhere," she said.
'Doesn't seem right'
"I understand the costs associated with having them," said Gauthier. "But when we're the second-largest club on the Island and we're trying to create a soccer-based program for the community, charging our members the largest fees across the Island, paying to use those fields, it just doesn't seem right."
The club will now also be charged for weekend use of the field — which was previously free for the club's weekend tournaments.
"It was great for the club because that revenue we could put back into the club to buy equipment and items that we need," said Gauthier.
Looking for alternatives
Gauthier said they'll still use the turf fields for tournaments and the club's more junior leagues, but will otherwise be looking for alternatives.
"There's a lot of schools in the community that have soccer fields," he said, but that may also come with a higher cost.
"The downside of that is the maintenance of those fields. We would need them cut more regularly. We would need them lined. It's an added cost to us if we need to start hauling equipment from our own clubhouse out to those fields."
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