Finding Focus – The Parry Sound Strategic Plan
29 Friday May 2015
Written by parry034 in Reflections, Town Council, Urban Development
I attended the Parry Sound Strategic Plan focus group sessions this past Tuesday. There were about 45 participants, not including Staff and Council who were there to participate and/or facilitate the process. It lasted about three hours and included a discussion on six separate topics that were identified of particular interest from the earlier open house.
I thought the sessions were well-managed. The participants, even when they disagreed, were thoughtful and considerate of other opinions. All in all it was well done and should help with the strategic planning process. A draft plan is expected by the end of the summer, with the final Strategic Plan approved by yearend.
It was interesting to see that one of the six topics for discussion concerned a swimming pool complex. There is a surge of interest in the community, mostly from outside Parry Sound as I can tell, to build a swimming pool complex.
Personally I am neutral to negative on this initiative. In theory a pool would be quite nice. But like a puppy, pools come with long-term responsibilities and costs. A pool would probably cost on the order of $750,000 per year to operate, not including the initial capital costs, or annual inflation.
The question is who will pay for this. Participants who reside in the neighbouring communities were not unanimous in suggesting their municipality would support a pool with tax revenues. Information at the meeting suggested that perhaps 1,000 to 2,000 people would take memberships, and cover about three-quarters of the operating costs. That’s about 10% to 20% of the target audience. Assuming a middle figure, 1,500 members, the annual cost for a per-person membership would be about $300, perhaps $1,000 for a family with kids. These are my estimated costs, and were not provided at the session on Tuesday.
Hmm, how many people have that type of money to spend on a pool membership? In practice swimming in Parry Sound from June through September is free. I guess the higher paid hospital staff can afford a pool membership. It’s possible that the hospital might even subsidize memberships as a ‘health’ initiative. It’s not so obvious how others might afford the cost. There certainly will be some that can and will, but 1,500? The outlying communities can’t necessarily be expected to support a pool because of travel challenges in the winter. Some will find travel not to be an issue, but some seniors will find it to be an unreasonable burden driving into Parry Sound unless it’s connected with shopping or a doctor’s visit. And will these seniors expect a discounted rate? They seem to get it for all sorts of services. (Disclosure: I’m a pre-senior, and will be eligible for any senior benefits if a pool were to be built.)
The real issue concerns who will pay for the very real shortfall in revenue to operate the pool complex. The neighbouring municipalities are quite happy to have their residents enjoy facilities offered by Parry Sound, but are they willing to step up and pay their share, especially if membership revenue falls well short of forecast? And what about ten and twenty years from now when any facility will require capital repairs and upgrades? Might they step away from the arrangement and build a smaller complex in their own municipality, at lower cost?
Experience to date does not support the idea that Parry Sound’s municipal partners will be there to share the load. They will argue any assessment be based on non-seasonal residents so as to cut their obligations. And taking the West Parry Sound District Museum as an example, which was formed by agreement of the seven local communities, only five now still provide support. And the total funding is two-thirds of what it was ten years ago. How many people buy a puppy for their kids and a year or two later decide it’s too much trouble and too expensive so they take it out to the country and let it loose, or drop it off at the local animal shelter? Well Parry Sound would probably end up playing the animal shelter role.
It’s human nature to sign up for things and then change your mind. Think about fitness club memberships. That pool membership may not seem to be something you really need or want after a couple of years of not using it as much as you thought. Sort of like sports season tickets to any team not called the Maple Leafs. How are the Argonauts season tickets doing?
Then there is the question of the full population supporting the interests of a few. Remember that 10% to 20% figure for people who would join the pool. That means the rest of us would be responsible for providing them with a benefit we have no interest in. We Parry Sounders already subsidize the Stockey Centre and Bobby Orr Community Centre to the tune of $500,000 per year. Do I play hockey? No. Do I care for live music? No. But I’m still obligated to subsidize those who do through my property taxes. Do our municipal neighbours help pay for this? No, and that’s okay. They didn’t sign up for it, we did.
Back to dogs. Twice bitten, third time shy.
Despite the tone of this post I’m not against a pool. I just don’t want to pay for one. I would be delighted to have Seguin, McDougall or Carling take the lead and build a pool in their municipality. They have lots of land for this type of complex. Wait, they don’t have water or sewer services. So it’s back to Parry Sound to hold the bag on this one.
I would like to have the regional municipalities build and subsidize a ski hill so I wouldn’t have to drive to Collingwood. Like a pool it would support physical activity and improve the health of the community, or at least my health. It would probably also act as a lure for physicians who won’t come because we don’t have a ski hill close by. The logic for more and more is endless, and in its own way persuasive.
Lots of arguments, but who will pay, and how much? Are we really expected to subsidize the interests and hobbies of the few? We can’t afford to provide subsidized transportation for people to get to medical appointments, but people want us to afford a swimming pool? Let’s see how this plays out.
Incoming – Duck! (Parry Sound in Black & White)
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May 30, 2015 at 10:45 am
Once there was a group of guys in highschool. They hung out together all the time, and did many things together. One of them – let’s call him Joe – dreamed of having a car in the group. If only one of them had a car, why, then they could drive places! They could go to the movies! They could travel to far off ski hills even. They might even be able to date more attractive nurses, er, I mean girls, because then they’d have a car to entice them with!
So joe talked with the guys about a car. They all agreed that it would be nice if one of them did have a car, but none of the other guys was ready or willing to buy it. One said “I just don’t have the money.” Another said “I live in an apartment, I’d have no place to park it.” Another said “I wouldn’t be approved for the insurance.” They all agreed that only Joe was really in a position to get the car, since he could get the money, and he already had a garage, and all the other necessities.
But Joe was hesitant to buy the car himself. Yes, he wanted all the benefits of owning a car – he loved the idea of all the neighbours touring by and seeing that shiny new car parked in *his* driveway – but he also wanted to spend his money on some other things instead. He wanted to go to concerts. He wanted to play hockey. He wanted to do some renovations around the house. “If only,” Joe thought to himself, “there were someway for me to be able to buy the car, but get all the guys to help pay for it!”
So Joe went to the guys with his plan. He explained that since they would surely be hitching lots of rides in his car, and they would all reap the benefit of him having a car, that they should be happy to pay a share of buying the car. It made perfect sense to Joe – after all, why shouldn’t those free-loaders pay their fair share!
Oddly, the guys didn’t see it quite the same way. “wait, so it would still be your car, right?” asked one. “Right” said Joe. “And it would still be parked in your garage, right?” asked another. “Right” said Joe. “And you’d be the one in charge of the car, making all the decisions about it, who get’s to use it when, and everything like that, right?” asked another. “well, um, yeah” said Joe. “So actually what you’re saying” all the guys replied “is that you want to use our money to buy your car?” “Well, yes! Doesn’t that make sense?!?” But to the guys, it didn’t. So they declined to participate in Joe’s plan. They told him instead that they would simply pay him some gas money whenever he happened to give them a ride – that way they wouldn’t be freeloaders and it would actually be a bit easier for Joe to bear to cost of buying his car.
That made sense to the guys, but Joe was distraught. Off he went to sulk on his own, sitting by the side of the road. “Those freeloading guys!” Joe complained, “always wanting the benefit of being my friend, but never willing to pay their share! Don’t they see what a valuable privilege it is to be my friend!”
Just then an old-timer came along. Seeing Joe, he asked what he was upset about. Joe told him. The old-timer replied “well, I can certainly understand your feelings – when I was your age, I wanted to have my own car too. It’s a fairly normal rite of passage; most guys, when they grow to a certain age and stature, naturally want a car. If you look around, most guys your age do have one.” Joe asked him “when you were my age, did you have your own car?” “Yes,” the old-timer replied. “How did you get it? Did your friends help pay for it?” Joe asked. “No,” the old-timer replied. “I wanted a car, so I got off my duff, got a job, and paid for the damn thing myself!” Then the old timer muttered as he walked away “it’s what the grown ups do, Joe.”
May 30, 2015 at 11:57 am
Then Joe had a chance to speak to his Dad, who cared for him and asked him a couple of questions. “Can you afford a new or even used car? It’s not just the cost of purchasing it but also the cost of gas, maintenance, insurance and repairs.”
Joe responded, “not really”.
“What will you be sacrificing to buy a car? Are there better uses for your money? And do you need or want a car?”
Joe responded, “sort of, my friends really think I should get one”.
“Well then why don’t you wait for one of your friends to get a car and then offer to pay for the gas if you need a ride or want to borrow their car. That’s what the smart grown ups do.”
“Son, you need to understand when people are looking out for your interests and when they are looking out for their own. It’s not always easy.”
Ryan, thanks for your comment.
May 30, 2015 at 12:37 pm
Seriously though, I do think that a pool is probably inevitable. Most populated areas this size have one, I would think. Seguin is probably the second most likely place – they have the space right by the existing community centre/ arena, and the tax base, but Parry Sound’s water and sewer infrastructure makes it the more likely choice.
It will definitely cost a lot – both in initial construction and ongoing maintenance – and I don’t think it would serve anyone to downplay those costs in the service of getting the project approved.
However, I do think there are some strategies to make it more affordable.
First, rather than selling a few high-priced memberships – I would call the prices proposed in your post “high priced”; I’m in huge favour of a pool, but there’s 0% chance that my family would pony up $1500 a year – a better strategy would be to sell lots of low priced memberships.
To sell lots of memberships, you simply need to make it attractive to lots of people. A couple thoughts:
* the low price will make it attractive to lots of people of lesser means
*partnering with schools, community associations like the YMCA, etc., to run swim lessons, exercise classes, etc. – programs to bring in the bodies.
*make it attractive to tourists as an experience – not just a utilitarian activity of “swimming” which could be accomplished just as easily in the Bay, but more of a relaxing spa experience. This needs to be decided in advance so that the plans can include necessary amenities like a steam room, dry sauna, massage centre, cafe, etc. Typically in Parry Sound, luxury add-ons like that would be cut from the plans early on in the name of budget, and when the resulting product is a poorly lit cinder block walled utilitarian pool straight out of an urban YMCA in the ’70’s that no one wants to go to, the town is then left filling the financing gap! So they will pay either way, better to do it up front and get the nice facilities that the people would actually want. No one would pay $1500 a year to swim laps in a ’70’s YMCA pool, but there are plenty of seasonal residents who would happily pay that much if they could arrive at one facility and have a work out, then a swim, following my a steam or sauna, then a massage, perhaps a pedicure, then sit at the cafe talking with friends over a croissant and juice.
It should be noted, these types of facilities already exist as private for-profit ventures (the temple gardens in Moose Jaw, SK comes to mind), so it is possible to run them – at very least – not at a loss.
*Lastly, private corporate sponsorships and partnerships could defray costs. This could come in the form of sponsorships, e.g. the hospital or larger companies like Shaw or Crofters could sponsor a chunk of money in return for free memberships for its employees, or partnerships with businesses to run parts of the facilities – an existing massage therapy business, for example, could be enticed to move to the facility and run the massage service – the town would then benefit from having the service offered there and from lease revenues, but would be free of the logistical concerns of running such a service. Similarly, the cafe could be leased out to an existing town restaurant, the exercise room could be leased out to an existing gym, the pedicure service could be provided by an existing salon, etc. To really get some people in, lease one room to a daycare service, on the condition that they also provide childcare to patrons of the facility: being able to just drop the kids off and go for your work-out, massage and pedicure would attract many a stay-at-home mom (dads too!)