Public Commons

Part of Permits

The example of the new sports field permit fees: In November 2011, some public bake oven supporters went to depute to the Toronto Parks and Environment Committee, chaired by City Councillor Norm Kelly. The bakers objected to paying extra city permit fees to use bake ovens, which volunteers built and paid for. Councillor Kelly told them that the people using sports fields also raise money to improve the fields, but that they're happy to pay the city's permit fees as well.

It turns out he was mistaken. Sports field leagues are NOT happy at all. The chair of the Parks Committee was so sure he was right, that he hadn't even put the 2012 sports fee hikes on the Parks Committee Agenda. So the leagues and even the other councillors were blind to the fee increase, and it sailed through the City Council budget meeting.

Hindsight is often clearer. CELOS had hoped that the chair of the Parks Committee would include the issue of permit fees in the April 20, 2012, Parks Committee Agenda, so that Parks staff could be directed to prepare a report for the May 18 Parks Committee meeting. But the chair declined to do this. The report could have included details of the actual costs (by administrative region and facility) for maintaining the playing fields. It could have broken the numbers down into direct maintenance costs and indirect costs e.g. administration, enforcement, etc.

The staff report might have led lead to an interesting and helpful discussion at the May 18 meeting. The issue is whether Council is approving extra taxes with some of their permit fees. This would carry some legal problems with it, as outlined in the city's own User Fee Policy:

In interpreting the distinction between fees and taxes, the courts require that a fee charged for a service or activity must bear a relationship to the cost of providing the service or activity for which the fee is charged.

Since the Parks Committee is not stepping up to address the problems created by the new permit fees, the Toronto Sports Council has highlighted the issue instead. They held a meeting on Saturday May 12. Alicia Fordham attended for CELOS, and took some notes. The Toronto Sports Council released their report on the meeting soon after. The City hosted a meeting on the issue on May 17 at the North Toronto Community Centre (but did not release any notes on the outcome). The Parks and Environment Committee's May 18 agenda, meanwhile, had only two items.

On June 10 2012, there was a meeting of sports associations and the Toronto Sports Council with several city councillors (chaired by Councillor Janet Davis) to discuss the presentation of the PFR general manager's report to the Executive Committee (June 12).

At the Executive Council meeting there were eight deputations including a Deputation from CELOS.

Despite these deputations, the Executive Committee voted to recommend new fees for 2013: Report.