Rental fees may be waived for non-profit groups
By Chris Simon

Non-profit groups could be getting a financial break from room rental fees throughout Innisfil.

Town council will be reviewing a proposed new policy for banquet hall and public community room rentals, which could include the waiving of user fees for non-profit orgainzations. The policy review comes after council noticed a non-profit organization was being charged a different user rate than all other groups.

"Council asked staff to look into why there were two different rates, one for the Maple Leaf Seniors and another for everyone else and to report back with regards to meeting room rates," said the town's parks and recreation manager Robert Browne, in a statement to council. "A draft policy has been developed to deal with banquet halls and public community room rentals within town owned facilities."

Once the town's new administration centre and Cookstown library and community centre is complete, there will be about 12 publicly-owned community rooms available within the municipality. The town currently charges $26 per hour for meeting room rentals, with a mandatory three hour minimum booking.

Non-profit groups may get free meeting space because of their service to the community, said Browne.

The two main users of town public community room rentals are from not-for-profit groups and for-profit groups. Not-for-profit groups could be given preferential rates by virtue of their community service involvement," he said. "Similar to what Essa provides for their charity user groups, the new (administration centre) will have three public community meeting rooms available and it would be of little marginal cost to offer one of (its) public community rooms to local not-for-profit groups at no cost during regular business hours.

"Making a public community room available free of charge to local not-for-profit groups at the (administration centre) could be well received by benefiting groups."

As part of the review, staff compared rental rates with facilities in Bradford West Gwillimbury, Barrie and Essa Township.

In Bradford, meeting rates are $35 for two hours, or $50 for four. Essa rates range from free access to public meeting rooms for small not-for-profit groups, to $85.45 per hour for non residents.

Barrie charges $21 per hour for non-profit groups and $50 per hour for every other organization. However, the city requires a minimum three hour rental at all of its meeting room facilities.

Council members have until Nov. 19 to provide staff with feedback on the new policy. The new policy will be brought to council sometime after that.