Vancouver Park Board fee increase will impact kids in baseball and softball leagues next year

Families will have to start paying an average of six per cent more to sign their kids up for Little League baseball and softball in Vancouver next year.

The Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation passed a motion Tuesday evening that will see an increase in fees for some services and facilities as part of the recommendations in its 2024 budget.

Tom Digby, park board commissioner with the Green Party of Vancouver, told CityNews that the six per cent increase was a “reasonable increase to keep up with inflation and maintain services.”

He adds that although he is comfortable with the number that was decided, it had a lot of “weaknesses,” one of which is the doubling of fees for a baseball diamond in Vancouver.

Digby explains that he moved a motion that would only increase the baseball diamonds by a small part percentage but it got “shot down” by his ABC colleagues on the board which made him “a little bit concerned.”

“I don’t think we should [increase revenues on] the back of 11-year-olds who are just trying to play little league baseball … I think it was unnecessary to go quite that far … but that’s the way it went.”

Leigh Ramsden, the president of the Vancouver Minor Softball Association, told CityNews that the upcoming fee increase is a “tough pill to swallow” and comes amid a time when the sport is seeing a cost increase already due to inflation.

He says that field costs comprise around 20 per cent of overall budgets, with the largest component being permitting fees to the Park Board. This will increase the hourly rate to rent a baseball diamond by almost double, going up to $5 an hour.

“We’re trying to grow the sport, we think that kids playing sports, in general, is a good thing for youth for many reasons and it’s unfortunate that we have to pass that cost increase on [to families],” said Ramsden.

Currently, they have 400 kids registered in the program, and they play on the field one to two hours a week, three times a week. He adds that’s usually $300 for a season that is three months long, and that cost will go up by 10 per cent.

He adds the cost everyone is being asked to pay is up between six to eight per cent, but the Softball Association’s range is 108 per cent. The additional costs would also be for things like equipment, gym space off-season, and supplies.

Ramsden said that ideally, the board would have brought down the association’s cost so it is “more in line with what everyone has to pay,” or would have “layered” the increased costs over a few years in stages rather than all at once.

He adds that this is “definitely a barrier” for many families who want to enroll their children in sports. “I think everyone’s facing higher costs … everyone’s facing inflation, we’re seeing it across all of our expenses that we have to run the sport.”

The increase in fees will apply to Vancouver Park Board-run golf courses, pitch and putt, recreation services, parking, special events and film, the Burrard Marina, and attractions like the Stanley Park Train, VanDusen Botanical Garden, and the Bloedel Conservatory.

-With files from Greg Bowman, Hana Mae Nassar, and Jimmy Huang