First Tay and now Tiny is looking into charging a non-resident fee for one of its boat launches.
"It seems to me that we're spending an awful lot of money, probably in the neighbourhood of $100,000 a year to maintain that boat launch in operating condition," said Coun. Tony Mintoff at a recent Tiny Township meeting discussing the Jackson Beach Park facility.
"It seems to me that perhaps this is an opportunity to generate revenue by charging a launch fee for non-residents," Mintoff added. "Our taxpayers are paying more than one per cent of the tax rate every year to maintain this and visitors from wherever else are coming to use it for free."
Tim Leitch, director of public works and interim CAO, said he agreed with the councillor that a fee was a step forward to recover the nearly $80,000 in maintenance fees being spent on the ramp.
"It's a big cost for the township," he said. "It's well used, well-utilized, but if we can at least cover our costs and at least maintain that area, it would be extremely important."
Mintoff liked the idea.
"Certainly, if it will do nothing else, it will make wait times a lot less for residents," he said. "I'd love to see it made as a revenue-neutral thing so that we can offset the operating cost at least."
But Mintoff wasn't as pleased with the lack of progress around a short-term-rental licensing policy.
"We're six weeks down the road and I would like to know what steps have been taken," he said. "I know the final report isn't due until the end of this quarter, but I'd like to get an update if possible."
Leitch indicated that staff is taking steps toward bringing something forward.
"We are planning on Nov. 30 to have a consultant, at no charge to the township, give us an overview of various ways of dealing with this in various municipalities," he said. "We felt it was such a massive subject with so many moving parts, that we approached this individual. They will talk about what type of pitfalls there are and what types of recommendations they have."
Mintoff said he was expecting more to have been done since the issue had been on the docket since June.
"It would have been nice if we were in the investigation stage at this time," he said. "I'm really hoping we can have something in place for the 2021 renting season."
Leitch that is exactly the plan.
"We will be looking at items we can put into play next summer," he said.
