Council approves ice rate increase

North Bay will have new ice rental rates in effect in April of next year.

That decision was made Tuesday night.

It followed a recommendation from the Community Services Committee.

Chair Mark King says the increase will be above the automatic 3 % increase they bring in every year.

King says the city needs to recover costs for what it puts into the arenas.

He says the users should be paying half the cost for arenas.

The prime time ice times will start at 4 pm instead of the current 5 pm and the number of different cost categories is down to 4 from 8.

Originally, the recommendation called for the increase to be brought in this fall.

Councillor Derek Shogren who did not support the decision says the cost of renting an arena is just one cost parents who have kids in sports have to worry about.

He says there’s also out of town tournaments and equipment and now more to pay to use the ice.

Shogren says he doesn’t want to put up barriers for kids and the biggest one is the rising cost.