Shire ‘to drop’ sport charge

ERIN PEARSON
SURF Coast Shire has indicated it will scrap plans for new user-pays charges on sport clubs amid widespread community opposition, according to a soccer club president.
Surf Coast Soccer Club’s Joe Taylor said he was hopeful council would back down on the charges after meeting shire officers last week.
Mr Taylor said the shire told him it would “cease implementing” the charge.
“We have recently met with council representatives and I think there’s now a better understanding of the challenges faced by sporting clubs in the shire, with the shire taking the fees off the table,” Mr Taylor said.
The Independent revealed last month that the shire would charge sport clubs for facility upgrades as part of a new recreation strategy.
Under previous arrangements the clubs paid power and water costs at home grounds and for some maintenance, with council responsible for upgrades and new facilities. But the user-pays fee system would have charged clubs for works such as lighting upgrades.
Clubs told the Independent they feared that the plan would drive-up membership fees as they sought to cover the new costs.
Mr Taylor said he surveyed soccer clubs in Glen Eira Shire, which provided the model for the new charge, to find they paid, on average, double the existing rates for his Surf Coast teams.
“That would mean our small-sides games fees would have to jump from $75 to $150 and our junior fees from $200 to $400. If we were forced to add these user-pays fees on top of significant increases to power and water costs the actual fees would have had to rise above this figure again and … there would be around a 30 per cent drop in participation in local sports.”
Surf Coast Shire refuses to answer questions from the Independent.