The Municipality of Chatham-Kent is grappling with rising costs for its municipal summer camps, and steep fee hikes may be on the horizon.
Administration is recommending increasing weekly summer camp fees over the next couple of years, with the steepest hikes for Stay N Play camp fees.
However, Councillor Brock McGregor made a successful motion at the council meeting on Monday night to freeze those fees until the next four-year budget update. He is asking staff for an itemized cost per site, fixed overhead costs per site, and the impact of summer wage subsidy grants in an attempt to keep municipal camps affordable.
An information report on the Chatham-Kent Council agenda on Monday night recommended that Stay N Play fees jump from $141 next year to $176 and from $144 in 2027 to $215.
The fees at KIDventure camp could jump from $214 next year to $240 and from $219 in 2017 to $272 to recover the costs of operating the camps and make the operating costs neutral by 2027.
Similar local camps offered by other groups have considerably lower fees.
Chatham-Kent Medical Officer of Health Dr. Shanker Nesathurai told councillors that for most people, the summer is an opportunity for cultural and social enrichment, athletic activities, spending time with family, and going away, but it also provides an opportunity for a decline in education and social isolation for disadvantaged people.
"Anything that the municipality, the county, and all of us in the public service can do to advance the lives of children advances public health. And to that extent, having recreational opportunities in the summer in the times of their holidays is a real priority for us in the public health service, and it's something that we've advocated both formally and informally," said the doctor.
Dr. Nesathurai hopes common sense around the budget table prevails.
"Consider in your deliberations the opportunities that we have to enhance the lives of children and young people, and summer camp is one incremental step in making that advance," Nesathurai said.
Chatham-Kent Finance Officer Gord Quinton warned there will be an impact on property taxes if the municipal summer camp fees stay frozen.
The municipality spends nearly $200,000 every summer to subsidize its camps and keep fees low.