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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The jump in price to register a snowmobile was a common gripe heard on the campaign trail last fall, says city councillor Dan Wong, and now he wants to bring the cost back down.

Wong asked administration Monday whether the additional revenue created by the fee hike could be replaced with money generated through fines for snowmobile infractions. The fee was raised to $40 from $25 in 2009, and then again to $50 in 2010. The number of snowmobile registrations was at 1,652 in 2007 but only 1,316 were registered in 2011, and are expected to reach a low this year of only 1,100 registrations.

Money collected from the fees go directly into the municipal enforcement budget, while money collected from fines go into general funds.

"The way I am basically looking at this is we have decided snowmobiling is a luxury activity and is not under public safety and that we are going to be doing this as a user-pay system," said Wong.

"All of this has to fall on the shoulders of the snowmobilers, which is different than other jurisdictions like Edmonton and Whitehorse."

Currently, to register a snowmobile, users must go to city hall each year, pay the $50 dollars, and get a licence plate sticker with a registration card. This allows a rider to travel within municipal boundaries.

The higher fee came after the council of the day agreed that increases in the cost of municipal enforcement, especially with salaries and fuel, had to be met with a user-pay system. According to public safety director Dennis Marchiori, complaints to the city about the fee hike have been rare.

"People complained about it at first. I remember city councillor Kevin Kennedy at the time making the comment a couple of times that, 'If you're snowmobiling, you should be paying for what you're doing,'" said Marchiori.

"It is like a vehicle or anything else, you get in return the right to ride on the road. There were people a little bit upset by it, but in the end we haven't heard much about the licensing fee."

In a normal year there are between 1,700 and 1,800 registrations, according to Marchiori, which can dip or rise, depending on a number of factors, including snow conditions and temperatures.

Snowmobilers found breaking the rules and paying fines tend to be young males aged 16 to 22 and are not representative of the snowmobiling community as a whole, said Marchiori.

"On a lot of the patrols, we're finding a lot of residents have been doing fairly well on snowmobiles," said Marchiori. "They're not speeding and they all have them registered."

He couldn't say how much revenue is generated from fines issued to snowmobilers but said the figure was small.

Coun. Cory Vanthuyne was on council at the time the decision was made to increase the fee, and said as a rider himself, he doesn't have a problem with it.

"Fifty dollars, in my view, is not a make or break deal for me," he said. "That is an acceptable rate for six months of snowmobile driving.

"Prior to the rate going up in 2010, the rate was set for about $25 and it was there for a period of about 10 to 12 years.

"There are always growing costs to maintaining snowmobile safety and enforcement of snowmobiles within the city boundary."

Gord Olson, president of Polar Tech Recreation, said he doesn't see the problem with the fee as it stands.

"I haven't heard too much about it, but to me it doesn't sound too bad for a year and the fact that some jurisdictions down south have to pay trail fees on top of their registration," he said. "You have to pay for enforcement, because we do have accidents."

However, when asked if he thought those who get penalized should carry more of the costs, he said he didn't think so. One young man he knows is selling his machine this year because of an $1,800 fine after being caught with no licence, no registration, no insurance and while speeding on Frame Lake.

"The kid was just devastated," he said. "How much more could you fine?"

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