That the Corporate and Finance Services Committee recommend to City Council:
Whereas the Fees and Charges By-Law 109-2024, as amended sets out the payment amount of fees and charges for information, services, activities and the use of municipal property; and,
Whereas Recreation Services issues permits with associated fees to rent various municipal facilities including but not limited to arenas, meeting rooms, pools, gymnasiums, outdoor sport fields and park space and processes registrations with associated fees for various recreation programs including but not limited to the arts, aquatic leadership, camp, dance, fitness, recreational sports, skating and swimming; and,
Whereas the current practice for facility rental cancellations is to apply a fixed rate administration fee of $30 when a cancellation request is received for a facility rental 15 days or more prior to a rental, while facility rentals cancelled less than 15 days prior to a rental are non-refundable; and,
Whereas a tiered, percentage-based facility rental cancellation fee will not impact internal resources and may discourage permit holders from cancelling a rental with short notice that may result in a high demand facility being unused; and,
Whereas a percentage-based facility rental cancellation fee can be fully implemented in the IntelliManager software as an automatic process which will eliminate the potential for human error, as well as ensuring a consistent application of the fee, allowing the amount of the cancellation fee to be determined based on the cost of the facility rental; and,
Whereas a 25% rental cancellation fee falls within a comparable range to the fees charged by the Town of Ajax, Municipality of Clarington and Town of Whitby;
Whereas a three (3) tiered facility rental cancellation fee would provide:
- a full refund for cancellation requests received at least thirty (30) days prior to a rental,
- a cancellation fee of 25% of the rental fee for requests received 15 to 29 days prior to the rental, or
- No refund for rentals that are cancelled in less than fifteen (15) days; and,
Whereas the current refund procedure for registered programs provides options for users to receive a full or partial refund or credit and is dependent on the timing of the cancellation and if the cancellation occurs before or after classes have commenced; and,
Whereas the Registration Cancellation fees facilitated by Recreation Services is not compatible with the IntelliManager registration software and not available to participants online, and as such, must be manually completed by City staff; and
Whereas a (3) tiered cancellation fee can be introduced for general programs including but not limited the arts, dance, fitness, preschool, recreational sports, skating and swimming; and,
Whereas a three (3) tiered registration cancellation fee for general programs would provide:
- a full refund for cancellations received at least seven (7) days prior to the program start date,
- a cancellation fee of 20% of the program fee for cancellations received less than seven (7) days prior to the program start date and up to the start of the second class or
- no refund for cancellations received after the start of the second class; and,
Whereas aquatic leadership programs require additional notice for staff to contact individuals on a waitlist if a participant cancels a registration due to minimum participant and attendance requirements established by the Lifesaving Society, and camp programs require additional notice prior to the first day of the program to organize camper groups and to contact caregivers with important information and therefore need a separate tiered cancellation structure; and,
Whereas the three (3) tiered registration cancellation fee for aquatic leadership programs and camps would provide:
- a full refund for cancellations received at least seven (7) days prior to the program start date,
- a cancellation fee of 20% of the program fee for requests received four (4) to six (6) days prior to the start of the program or
- No refund for cancellations received less than four (4) days prior to the program start date; and,
Therefore, be it resolved that based on Item CF-25-12 dated February 3, 2025 concerning facility rental and program registration cancellation fees:
- That Fees and Charges By-law 109-2024, as amended, be further amended to include changes to the cancellation fee structure as outlined in Attachment 1 to said Item and in a form and content satisfactory to the City Solicitor and Commissioner, Corporate and Finance Services Department/City Treasurer; and,
- That staff develop and implement a communication strategy to provide clear communication about the changes to the facility rental and program registration cancellation fees.