Instead of a flat “no” as suggested by administration, the City of Timmins will go back with a counter offer to three organizations looking for discounted ice rentals.
Minor hockey, girls’ hockey, and ringette asked that the youth rate it gets from October 1st to March 31st be extended to May and September. Administration recommended it not be approved, because it would mean a further deficit of $31,000 on top of the $1.1- million it already incurs in city arenas every year.
On the suggestion of Coun. Rock Whissell, City Hall will ask the groups to pay $160 dollars an hour instead of the current $150.
“That would cover those two months and we would have a flat rate beginning September 1st all the way to May 1st,.” he said, based on his own research.
Groups and teams that don’t qualify for the youth rate pay $215 an hour.
“So if we would have those rates equal all the way through,” Whissell ventured, “we might encourage more teams and more kids to be on the ice.”
The trio of sports organizations says they run substantial programming in April and September.