At the Bayshore Community Centre we have the Owen Sound Attack, circus, concerts, weddings - just to name a few. Julie MacArthur Recreation Centre is home to the YMCA. Harrison Park receives thousands of tourists from across the country, and many from the US who enjoy the campgrounds, as well as thousand from Grey County who live outside the city limits. Kelso Beach is home to Summerfolk and a destination also to thousands of tourists as well as people from just outside the City limits.

All come to enjoy the four facilities - for free - and there lies the problem I am an Owen Sound taxpayer and I can’t say that. I speak for the Owen Sound taxpayer when I say we can’t keep paying these operating and capital costs by ourselves.

We have to keep up with the rest of the world. Nobody drives to the Jays game or Leafs game or to the Eaton Centre to shop, or to the airport, and expects to park for free.

We’re not Toronto you say. Well my family and I took a day trip this past summer to Tobemory.  We parked at the marina, walked for hours, visited the shops, had a nice breakfast - and we paid to park. We drove down the highway to Little Cove Beach where we stayed another couple of hours - and we paid to park. Stopped on the way home at a patio in Lions Head - and we paid to park. When I got home I had paid $44 in parking fees, and by the way, we were not talking about the parking fees when we got home - we were talking about the nice experience we had in Tobermory.

Now I totally understand the argument that people just outside of Owen Sound have they made a donation to the rec centre when it was built, they're an Owen Sound Attack season ticket holder, they are members  of the YMCA, they shop in Owen Sound and they eat in restaurants in Owen Sound. I totally get that they contribute to the local economy, but everything I just mentioned is exactly what the Owen Sound taxpayer is doing as well. So I think we all agree that people outside the Owen Sound contribute to the Owen Sound economy just as much as the Owen Sound taxpayer. But here’s the difference.

At the end of the year we have the following costs Bayshore $500,000, Julie MacArthur Rec Centre $500,000, another $1.4 million for parks - a total of $2.4 million. Those operating costs have to be paid every year. And who pays it?  Only the Owen Sound tax payer. When the costs are paid there is no one from Georgian bluffs, Chatsworth, Saugeen Shores, Markdale, Flesherton - just the Owen Sound tax pair there’s also cost capital cost to consider. Over the next five years we have $4.5 million in capital costs just for parks alone.

You know, I can use Georgian Bluffs as an example just in an effort to help people understand. People choose to live in Georgian Bluffs for a variety of reasons - they want to live on the water, they like the environment and views of Cobble Beach, they like living on a 2-acre lot and don't have a neighbour within 3 to 4 feet from their home. But there's also lots of people that live there and will just tell you straight up - “I live there because the taxes are lower and I can use everything in Owen Sound – for free.”

And I can give you an example of that – a detached bungalow in Owen Sound would cost $4029 in taxes. That same bungalow in Georgian Bluffs only costs $1716 – that's a difference of [sic] $1238.
If that $1238 was $1200 even and that $38 – 45 a year per Georgian Bluffs taxpayer went to user fees, we wouldn't be having this conversation. And that person, if they were paying $38-45 in user fees, they would still be paying $1200 a year less to live in Georgian Bluffs.

So that's the point I'm trying to make and I hope that makes it easier to understand.

I still want to move the recommendation, with one additional item. I would ask that City Manager Tim Simmonds do everything he can to bring the other municipalities to the table in an effort to negotiate non-resident fees.