By now, you may or may not be aware the City of Toronto Council has voted to charge all outdoor playing field permit holders an hourly user fee for 2012. This was done during the recent Toronto budget process as council looked for ways to increase non-tax revenues. Baseball leagues were formally notified of this decision late last week. These additional permit user fees will be charged to minor baseball leagues, soccer leagues, football, cricket, slo-pitch and others who permit outdoor fields from the city. According to a city staff report, these fees could generate up to $1.5 million.
What does this mean to Bloordale?
If Bloordale requests permits for the same number of diamonds for the same number of practice and game hours as we did in 2011, we have estimated the approximate cost to every player would be $111.
In all, this could impact our budget by over $30,000. Obviously this worst-case scenario is unacceptable.
What is Bloordale doing about this?
Since being notified of this permit fee last week, Bloordale executive members have taken the following steps:
- Analyzing our permit needs in an effort to reduce the number of permit hours
- Contacted affiliated baseball leagues in Etobicoke and across Toronto to develop a united front
- Contacted local city councillors to make them aware of the impact of the permit fees on our members
- Participated in a Toronto Star news article to help bring attention to the issue (http://www.thestar.com/news/cityhallpolitics/article/1130206–new-city-fees-shock-baseball-players)
- Continue to work with our partners and city staff to find creative solutions to help reduce permitted hour allocations
We hope our collective efforts will substantially reduce the impact of the city permit fee on our members. With this in mind, we ask you to continue with your intentions to register with the league for the 2012 season. Our next registration night is this Wednesday, Feb. 15 at Cloverdale Mall from 6-9 p.m.
We will keep the Bloordale family informed of our efforts by way of emails and posting updates on the Bloordale website and advise you of any actions you can take to make a difference. Please monitor our site at www.bloordalebaseball.com.
Should you have any questions or wish to add your thoughts, please email [email protected] . We appreciate your feedback.
Yours Sincerely
Patrick McConnell
President, Bloordale Baseball
(on behalf of the Executive Team)