Ag 23 february 2018

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Friday, Feb 23, 2018

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THE INDEPENDENT VOICE OF MID CANTERBURY

There is a lot more to playing sport than fees

www.guardianonline.co.nz

Baby Austin returns MOTORING

Kelvin Holmes

Stadium fee rise ‘not fair’ BY SUE NEWMAN

SUE.N@THEGUARDIAN.CO.NZ

What happy looks like P3

Putting up fees to use the EA Networks Centre might look fair on paper but that doesn’t mean it looks fair outside the council door, businessman Kelvin Holmes told Ashburton District councillors. The former councillor was one of several people who spoke at yesterday’s submissions hearing opposing a proposal to raise the centre’s stadium fees by 44 per cent and pool and gym fees by 9 per cent. “I use the word fairity. It’s not a word,

but it’s a good word for this situation. It’s just not fair, there’s no fairity here,” Holmes said. Representatives of six sports organisations and two individuals told councillors they had the formula wrong and were wanting to increase fees for the wrong reasons. The complex was a community facility and should be easily accessed by the community. It was built to encourage people to keep fit and active; putting fees up to the degree proposed would have the op-

posite effect, submitters said. With about 1 per cent of the population taking the time to make a submission on the fee increases (442 in total with 409 in opposition) Holmes told councillors that was something they needed to be mindful of. “This is not equitable. There is a lot more to playing sport than fees,” he said.

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