Citizens and non-citizens of Penticton will have to pay more for a wide range of recreational services this year and the years ahead, if council approves the recommended rate increases.

Council considered the rate increases Monday, but deferred a final decision until after the committee charged with overseeing recreation has had a chance to consider the proposed increases in more detail.

Proposed rate increases vary from activity to activity and whether users reside inside or outside city limits. Users will face higher rates in 2010, as well as in 2011 and 2012, when the city would raise rates by two per cent, unless otherwise noted. A full list of the proposed rates is available through City Hall.

Recreation business supervisor Cheryl Wiebe said the increases would earn the city an additional $17,000. She stressed throughout her presentation that the proposed rates reflect the city’s philosophy on fee and charges.

It says that financial policies should not discriminate, but insists that users that should pay more (than non-users) and gives the city the right to profit when a profit-oriented company uses city-owned facilities.

Yet the central thrust of city rates is to recover costs, added John Kirbyson, director of parks, recreation and culture.

“Our approach is not a market-driven process,” said Kirbyson. The city, he said, is trying to strike a balance between cost-recovery and accessibility.

Wiebe also noted that the rates reflect a balance compared to other communities.

But if staff tried to sell the proposed rates as a reasonable rate consistent with city values, not everybody bought it.

Coun. Mike Pearce wondered why the city is looking to other communities in setting its own rates, as he suggested that the proposed rate increases should be higher.

Coun. Andrew Jakubeit also lamented that the city had failed to address regional governance on the issue of recreation. The proposed rates also do not fit in with pending recommendations from the committee charged with overseeing the South Okanagan Events Centre, one of four facilities managed by Global Spectrum.

While the proposed rate increases do not impact the SOEC and its attached community the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre and Memorial Arena, their use and attached budgets relate to broader issue of recreational and municipal services sponsored by the city.

On a related note, council heard once again from library officials demanding improvements to the aging facility, which has reported increased usage during the current economic downturn. But the file has received considerably less attention over the years as the city focused its attention on the SOEC among other issues.

The current financial downturn has also made it less likely that the city will address long-standing demands for “bare-bones” improvements to the facility to the tune of $3 million, a point seemingly made clear by Pearce.

“We are strapped,” he said. “That is the message.”