In my humble opinion, it is past time for the City of Trail to take a step forward and lead the way to amalgamation with our neighbours. The very first act, again in my opinion, would be the act of sharing! It is time to eliminate the special fee that has been put in place so that everyone in Greater Trail can use our sport facilities and library.
We are hurting many seniors, parents, children and single adults who used to participate in the many sports and amenities that took place in Trail. There are children being deprived of sports and other recreation outlets because of the additional charges Trail demands. Recreational teams and clubs are being hurt because so many families cannot afford the extra fees.
When I was on the Aquatic Society working towards having a “Greater Trail” aquatic centre, it was discussed about having a local fee and charging extra for non-locals. It was emphatically decided that the facility would be much better financially if we could have as many users as possible. Does it not make sense that the more people who use our facilities the more operating costs will decrease!
I am asking city council to rethink their decision. The regional district started this whole mess in the first place. Opting out of the regional recreation should have been a regionalized referendum not just a vote of a few directors. Regional recreation went into effect through a referendum. Thus should have been demolished by referendum. It is now too late to take this step. I know that Trail taxpayers pay the bill.
But, again, the more users, the more income and thus less money paid by taxpayers. Money cannot always be the bottom line!
Let us share what we have with our friends and neighbouring towns and cities. Open our library, parks, arena, and aquatic centre to everyone at the same fees. Show our neighbours that we really want to find the road to total amalgamation!
Lynn Gould
Trail