'Utterly devastated” and 'horrified” is how people have reacted to proposed fee increases for Tauranga community facilities.

People expressed their concerns at the Tauranga City Council hearings for the proposed user fees and charges for 2023/24 on Monday.

The proposed fee increases range from 6 per cent to 138 per cent, while some fees will not change.

The council consulted on the draft user fees from March 24 – April 24 and received 138 submissions.

A large portion of the submissions were about the proposed increases for Bay Venues, the council-controlled organisation that manages community facilities.

Speaking at the hearing, Frances Wilcokson of the Matua Major Leisure Marching team said they use the Mount Sports Centre for their 90-minute practices weekly.

'We need our activity to be accessible and affordable to anyone in the older age demographic, who by participating, keeps themselves connected with like-minded women, keeping fit in mind, body and soul,” she said.

'We were absolutely devastated to read [about the] proposed 89 per cent increased hourly rate.”

The hourly rate to hire the centre for regular users in the senior category is currently $15.40 the proposed rate is $29.20 an 89.6 per cent increase.

Wilcokson said the group of 10 women pay $5 a week each and this covers their costs, but under the new fee structure they 'won't have money left” after hiring the venue.

Hiring the centre for 90 minutes would cost $43.80 with the proposed fee increase.

She said if the increase went ahead practices would have to be cut down to an hour, which was not long enough.

It also wouldn't be fair on 'where the members are financially” to increase the fees, said Wilcokson.

'It would be less painful to the user if smaller steps are taken, rather than having one big leap, potentially affecting groups' financial viability at this time.

'We don't object to price increases at a sensible rate on a yearly basis, as has happened in the past years. Though these could have been more realistic and keeping with inflation.”

She also said the fees for the Mount centre shouldn't be the same as the Merivale Action Centre or Aquinas College facilities because those facilities were of a higher standard.

Basketball is the biggest community user of Bay Venues facilities. File photo/SunLive.

Julie Batten of Fusion Dance uses the Elizabeth Street Community Centre for social dance classes.

'We've been there a long time and when we discovered that the price increase is going to go up 96 per cent from January, it horrified us,” said Batten.

The price for one hour's hire for an adult regular user is $9.70 the proposed new fee is $19.60, a 102 per cent jump.

The facilities at Elizabeth Street 'did not meet the quality” of those at the Arataki or Pāpāmoa Community Centres, which she had also used, and the prices were similar, she said.

Her dancers were 'not necessarily high-income earners”, and she couldn't pass on a 90 per cent increase in her class charges, said Batten.

'I would seriously have to consider using another venue.”

Commissioner Stephen Selwood asked Batten what her venue hire fees were.

She responded it was around $300 - $400 per month and she charged $15 per person for a class.

She also had 'other expenses like any other business" but did not make a profit.

Selwood said the fee would be divided by the number of people in a class.

'You wouldn't need to increase your charges by 96 per cent to cover the cost of the venue hire.”

Batten replied if the venue hire was going to double, she'd have to increase class costs 'quite a bit” to cover it.

Tauranga City Basketball Association General Manager Mark Rogers. Photo: John Borren/SunLive.

Tauranga City Basketball Association General Manager Mark Rogers said in his written submission basketball was the biggest community user of Bay Venues facilities.

The association opposed the 58 per cent increase in fees because 'it may discourage teams entering the various league competitions”.

Rogers said this would most likely occur in their school leagues because they were the 'most sensitive” to price changes.

The association also wanted the user fees across indoor and outdoor sports reviewed 'to provide cost recovery equity, of [the] council's costs, across all user groups”.

He suggested the indoor user fees were increased in line with inflation until a review was done.

At the hearing, Selwood asked what the increased cost would mean to a player.

Rogers replied, the cost per player varied depending on age, the competition they were in, and how many players were on the court. The association paid around $100,000 a year to Bay Venues in rent, he said.

'Another way to reframe that is that is there's a cost to the players and there's the cost of the organisation because not all those costs are passed on to the players.

'But if you frame it in the sense of you've got three kids playing what that actually might mean for a family.

'When you break it down to, I've got three kids how much is it going to cost me on a weekly basis, given all the other costs … that's when the dynamic starts to change.

'That's where you actually get the flow effect for the organisation and people dropping out.”

Commissioner Stephen Selwood said the percentage increases "sound dramatic" but "come from a very, very low base." Photo: John Borren/SunLive.

Selwood explained: 'The dilemma we as a commission face, since we've been here, has been a significant underinvestment in all forms of infrastructure, including social structure across the city.”

The commission had been faced with the 'catch up problem” and the price increases were 'a legacy of that”, he said.

There had to be a 'balance” between ratepayers paying and the users paying because ratepayers had been subsiding Bay Venues, said Selwood.

'Some of the percentage increases, they sound dramatic … but they've come off a very, very low base.”

Commission chair Anne Tolley said in future she wanted Bay Venues to be part of the hearing process.

The council will deliberate on the proposed fees at a meeting on June 19.

The new general fees would be implemented on 1 July 2023, and the fees for regular user groups on 1 January 2024.

Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air