User rates for all major municipal services, from the pool to the library, could go up as the city looks to eliminate subsidies and meet expenses.

Elected representatives, city staff and ordinary citizens are currently reviewing proposed changes to fees and charges for the use of Community Centre facilities, the library and museum, city parks and McLaren Arena.

Coun. Judy Sentes — who chairs the city’s parks and recreation advisory committee currently reviewing the numbers — said the new fees and charges well help the city recover operation and maintenance costs for those facilities.

“It (the new structure) is not intended to make a profit,” said Sentes, stressing that the committee is still working through the draft numbers. She also added that they will not become available until her committee has had a chance to work through them.

While some committee members reviewed the numbers, the committee itself could not work through them and forward them to council, because it lacked quorum. The committee will meet again July 27 to take another run at the numbers, said Sentes.

This means few details are currently available to the general public as it deals with changing service levels and costs structures in the face of the current economic downturn hitting city budget everywhere.

Sentes said some rates will stay the same. Others will rise significantly, while some may drop. Overall, she described the proposed hikes as “moderate” in size.

Also still unclear is who will bear the brunt of the proposed changes. While the city currently charges non-locals higher rates for the use of municipal facilities such as the pool, a number of prominent voices such as former councillor Joanne Grimaldi have demanded that non-residents pay an even higher share, because they do not directly pay taxes in Penticton.

Sentes said the city is currently collecting relevant information in weighing the issue, which she believes should include significant input from the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen.

“That is part of the conversation,” she said.

If the city eventually approves the new rates, they would impact a wide range of municipal services, a fact which Sentes acknowledged. “It is trying to be a comprehensive review,” she said. “It is a broad reaching document.”

That is why the city is trying to be as thorough as possible in its review, said Sentes, who said that she would take a position on the proposed rates, once the process had run its course.

Should council approve changed rates, they would come into effect at the start of 2010. They would not cover the fields and facilities administered by the local school district, the Japanese Garden or those under the administration of Global Spectrum, such as the South Okanagan Events Centre, Memorial Arena and the community rink attached to the SOEC.