City mulling increases for some recreation, facility and landfill fees

Some City of Flin Flon services may soon get slightly more expensive to use this year.

City council members gave first reading to a bylaw change allowing changes to existing City fee schedules at their Feb. 6 meeting. The proposed city fee schedule for 2024 will include slight price jumps for booking, renting or using several City facilities.

The biggest changes will be seen for anyone using the Flin Flon landfill to haul large loads of garbage. Rates for both residents and non-residents will be changing - one-to-five-ton truckloads will go from $20 for residents and $80 for non-residents to $30 for residents and $90 for non-residents, respectively.

For trailer loads of refuse where the trailer has more than one axle, rates will go from $30 for residents and $85 for non-residents to $50 and $105 respectively. Semi-loads of garbage for residents will stay the same rate, but non-residents will see a 25 per cent price hike, going from $320 per load to $400.

Facility fees will see some changes, mainly at the Whitney Forum, Centoba Park and Foster Park ballparks and soccer field, Camp Whitney, the Flin Flon Tourist Bureau and Flinty’s Campground and the Rotary Wheel. Most of the areas where there are changes will see a three per cent year-over-year rate hike for next year if the fee schedule is passed as written.

All rentals for Centoba Park and Foster Park, the Rotary Wheel and the tourist bureau and campground will go up by three per cent for this year. At the Whitney Forum, most rentals will go up by three per cent in total except for per-person rates for public skate and scrub hockey, which will stay the same, and rent for the Bombers, which is negotiated separately.

Camp Whitney will see three per cent increases for per-day rates for groups of all sizes, along with the costs of renting a pontoon boat to travel to and from camp.

Almost nothing will change for rental rates for the Flin Flon Community Hall, with only two changes - an extra day on the City’s existing three-day facility rental package for weddings would now cost $80 instead of $75, while the hourly rental rate for non-profit groups will go down from $80 last year to $70.

The City will also introduce rental rates for the Hudbay staff house building, which it is renting with a possible deal in place to buy it from the company this fall. The meeting room in the basement of the building is available for rent both per day and per hour - daily rates for the room will be $154.50, while the room can be rented hourly for $30.90.

A list of changes in the proposed fee schedule can be found alongside this article, as presented in the City’s agenda from the Feb. 6 meeting.