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Rec complex fees left unchanged

User fees at the Nelson and District Community Complex will remain unchanged into next year, although they may be revisited as part of long-term planning in 2012.
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Pool hours at the Nelson and District Community Complex are being scaled back slightly

User fees at the Nelson and District Community Complex will remain unchanged into next year, although they may be revisited as part of long-term planning in 2012.

On Thursday, the regional district ratified holding the line for now. Rural Nelson director Ramona Faust says they were mindful that daily admission fees rose “significantly” last year.

“We thought this year it was not appropriate to raise user fees,” she says. “There are some other investigations of how to bring revenue into the centre.”

The complex is once again on solid financial footing after clawing its way back from a deficit of more than $200,000, which resulted in reduced pool and fitness centre hours.

Faust says increased revenue the last few years is a testament to management and staff.

“We feel pretty happy that some of the challenges have been dealt with,” she says. “Recreation is never funded 100 per cent by user fees, but I think we’d like to reduce the tax burden.”

• An adjustment to the aquatic centre’s hours took effect this month.

The pool now opens at 6:30 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, a half hour later than before. Faust says it’s simply a reflection on the fact the facility didn’t get much use that early.

“We know those early mornings are very much appreciated but just wanted to make it worthwhile,” she says. It was only in January that the pool reopened on those mornings after being closed since 2007 to cut costs.

• Close to a year after recreation manager Bernie Van Hooft resigned, there is still no official replacement. Faust says the job has been posted a couple of times, and there has been lots of interest, but they haven’t been able to come to terms with a candidate.