User Fees...What's Fair...What's Not

The Town has a policy on user fees. It's purpose is to require facility users to contribute to the cost of operations on a fair and equal basis.

Staff  take   direction from  policy. Permit applications are processed on the basis of  qualifications. No divergence  is permitted .

The Town has a grant policy. A budget is set each year. Staff process applications for grants on the basis of qualifications.Staff do not have authority to make grants. Recommendations  are  made to Council to grant or not  grant according to qualifications.

A request to waive a user fee is the same as a request for a grant Staff do not have authority to waive user fees. There would be no fairness or equality to waive fees for  those who ask but not to those who do not ask.

Request to waive fees are made to the political body. Sometimes they are waived .Sometimes not. There is no fairness or equality in the process.

Often nothing hangs in the balance  save  amount of funds  claimed to be contributed to charity.

For example Dove, a Lacrosse Association, boasts of the amount of a charitable contribution  from a tournament in an Aurora facility over an entire week-end without paying a user fee. The contribution ,
if the fee was paid, would be less by that amount.  Aurora  taxpayers therefore are foregoing revenue
to swell a charitable contribution. They are contributing to a charity without their leave or   awareness. Hands are in their pocket which have no right to be there for that purpose.

There is no fairness or equality in the practice of waiving fees.  Neither is there integrity.

A request for a  fee waiver should  be processed  in accordance with  the grant policy and a recommendation made  to Council  for approval or not in accordance with qualifications to ensure open and transparent fairness and  equality.

In 2010, a "sponsorship" of $2K was provided to a  Jazz Festival  through the Chief Administrator's office by a process  in accordance with neither  User Fee Policy or  Grant Policy. 

It was provided under no policy familiar to this Councillor.

In 2011, a majority of council has approved  the park user fee be waived for a weekend to allow union musicians to ply their trade and realise  employment at union scale.

Councillors  further directed money's to make up the sum of $5K be handed out  to augment  further union scale wages paid to musicians  employed by  a commercial endeavour.

All of it to come from the pockets of  unwitting taxpayers whose interest they are sworn to protect.

None of it seen as fair and  open or equal and transparent  or agreed to by said taxpayers.