Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, November 7, 2007
RANKIN INLET - The Hamlet of Rankin Inlet has decided it's more important to have kids playing the game than to collect user fees from minor hockey.
Council eliminated ice-rental fees for minor hockey this past month, and cut fees in half for old-timers and adult recreation players.
Justin Merritt: "Most Kivalliq hamlets don't charge their minor-hockey organizations for ice time and it was time for Rankin to follow suit." - Darrell Greer/NNSL photo |
Council had dropped ice fees to $37.50 from $75 for minor hockey during the 2006-07 season.
Rankin Inlet Minor Hockey Association (RIMHA) president Justin Merritt said the RIMHA charges $80 per kid to play hockey all year, and only $50 for a second kid from the same family.
He said from that, $40 goes to affiliate each player with Hockey Nunavut.
"On average we'll collect $6,500 in registration fees, but more than $4,000 will go to affiliating the players," said Merritt.
"We brought in about $48,000 in bingo revenues this past season and hope to, at least, match that this year.
"If we raise that only to pay $18,000 for ice time, we're just spinning our wheels.
"Most Kivalliq hamlets don't charge their minor-hockey organizations for ice time and it was time for Rankin to follow suit."
Merritt said the money saved by the free ice time will be used to get more kids playing hockey, get more teams out to tournaments, and purchase gear for kids who want to play hockey, but can't afford all the equipment.
There were 112 kids registered with the RIMHA in 2006-07 and Merritt expects to reach that number again by Christmas.
"When we charged $150 per kid a few years ago, our numbers dropped to about 75 registered players.
"Since we've got that down to $75 or $80, our numbers have grown.
"The arena cost the hamlet a fortune to run, so having 112 kids play hockey instead of 75 is more of a benefit than money the hamlet gets through ice time.
"We have to bring as many kids into the hockey program as we can."
Merritt said the money minor hockey used to pay in ice fees did help the hamlet offset the cost of artificial ice, but that money can be made up in other ways.
He said it's far more important to maximize the arena's usage than to collect a few extra dollars.
"Yes, we have 60 kids in Rankin who would still be playing hockey if we charged $250 per player," said Merritt.
"But, if we don't do all we can to have every kid out there who wants to be, what's the sense in it?
"If we closed the arena tomorrow, the hamlet would have about $350,000 to spend on whatever it wanted.
"But where do you draw the line between money and what benefits kids?"
Ice rentals accounted for about 15 per cent of the cost of running the arena.
Merritt said that now falls to about eight per cent, but that's peanuts when compared to the benefits more than 100 local kids will enjoy because of the reduction.
"The hamlet pays about $60,000 a year to run the breakfast program.
"It's a great program that helps a lot of kids, but should we charge $2 a day?
"Is the money that would come into the hamlet more important than the kids who can't afford $10 a week?
"That's the choice you have to make sometimes in deciding what's best for the community, but you put the kids first whenever you can."
Coun. Ron Roach sits on the hamlet's finance committee, and he said it made sense to sacrifice user fees so more kids could play and have a chance to see how they stack up against players in the south.
"It's more important to have kids playing, especially during an Arctic Winter Games year," said Roach.
"With the hamlet in an excellent financial position right now, we can afford to give the kids free ice time so the RIMHA can use the extra money for player development and participation."
Roach said there's no denying the hamlet is taking a small financial hit to allow the kids to play for free.
But, he said, the hamlet is being run efficiently and that efficiency should benefit the community.
"This is only costing the hamlet about $18,000 and that's more than a fair trade-off to get more kids on the ice.
"You have to look at the importance of getting kids out to see what the competition is like in the south and develop not only their hockey skills, but their social skills as well.
"At one time we could get kids to a Yellowknife tournament for about $300.
"Two years ago it cost $600 to get a player to a hockey school in Winnipeg that had Jordin Tootoo, and I doubt you could get that any more, so parents are finding it tougher to send the kids out, too."
