Study finds charging non-Kelowna residents more for recreation is money loser

The City of Kelowna has been considering charging non-residents more for using city recreation facilities, but a study headed to city council found that it won’t generate more revenue.

The city hired accounting firm Deloitte to look into the business case of a two-tiered pricing system for recreation, and its findings are headed to council on March 2.

Deloitte found that 13,867 recreation users are non-residents and generate around $318,000 a year or 13 per cent of recreation revenue. Residents are the other 66,244 recreation users and generate $2.1 million a year or 87 per cent of recreation revenue.

Deloitte surveyed non-resident recreation users to see how raising the prices would impact them and how much it would deter them from using Kelowna’s facilities.

The analysis found that charging non-residents more would reduce demand and it would cost $58,000 to implement the change.

Deloitte did the math and found that a 50 per cent price increase would reduce non-resident revenue from $318,000 to $198,000 when factoring in demand change and implementation cost.

City council told staff last year to look into the two-tiered system to see if it would make more space for locals in Kelowna’s recreation facilities.

“It would potentially free up more room for our residents if there was potentially a different fee structure that would deter individuals from using those facilities,” Mayor Tom Dyas said at a council meeting last April when council directed staff to look into a two-tiered fee structure.

City’s staff recommend council not go ahead with two-tiered pricing for recreation.

The city still wants to find a way to prioritize local residents when it comes to recreation so it’s looking at a priority registration system so that locals get first dibs on high demand activities like swimming lessons.