Council approves Community Services facility rate increases for 2026-28

Posted on 20 May 2026 by Ryan Dahlman

By Matthew Liebenberg

mliebenberg@prairiepost.com

The City of Swift Current will be increasing user rates at various Community Services facilities over the next two years, but projected income at revenue generating facilities will be lower than before.

Council members approved the 2026-28 facility rates during a regular City council meeting, May 11.

These annual rate increases will apply from Sept. 1, 2026 to Aug. 31, 2027 and thereafter from Sept. 1, 2027 to Aug. 31, 2028. It only applies to facilities managed by Community Services and the cemetery and golf course fees will be reviewed separately.

City General Manager of Corporate Services Melissa Shaw said facility rates are reviewed annually to ensure that recovery rates match the guidelines determined by City council.

“We’re really excited that this year is actually a two-year rate review,” she noted. “We’ll be able to provide our community with two years of stable rates so they can know how to plan for their seasons coming ahead.”

Community Services facilities are either categorized as minimal or non-revenue generating facilities and as revenue generating facilities. Council has historically set a guideline that revenue generating facilities should recover 40 per cent of overall total facility operating costs.

The minimal or non-revenue generating facilities include ball diamonds, tennis courts, outdoor rinks, soccer pitches, beach volleyball courts, park rentals, arts and culture.

The City’s main revenue generating facilities include the InnovationPlex, Aquatic Centre, S3 Arenas, Lieutenant Colonel Clifton Centre, Dickson Community Centre, Fairview Pool and Kinetic Park.

“We’re trying to make sure that we’re recovering the rate so the entire burden of operating these facilities doesn’t fall back on every taxpayer,” she explained. “The goal is that as users of the facility, they’re helping to recover some of those costs and ensure that the facility is kept to a high level of standard for the community to use.”

Some facilities might see no rate increase while the increase for others might vary from three to five per cent.

“What we do is we review community comparisons throughout the province and then evaluate some stuff within the community to ensure that our rates are on par not only with communities comparable in size, but with other amenities offered within our community,” she said.

For this reason, the rental rates for meeting and conference rooms will remain the same or only increase minimally, because their rates are already higher when compared with other locally available facilities.

The higher rates for the City’s meeting and conference room facilities are due to the inclusion of additional services, for example City staff will do the facility setup and they are present during an event to deal with any problems.

Shaw felt overall the City’s facility rates are similar to those of other communities. The City did community comparisons with Lloydminster, Moose Jaw, North Battleford, Prince Albert, Weyburn and Yorkton.

“I would say we’re pretty on par with the comparisons for other communities,” she noted. “Some we might be a little bit high, some might be a little bit low, but for the most part, we really try and ensure that we’re in that comparable range.”

Community Services revenue generating facilities recovered 48 per cent for 2024 and 49 per cent for 2025, but it is projected that the recovery rate will be lower for the next three years at 45 per cent in 2026, 45 per cent in 2027 and 44 per cent in 2028. This is largely due to increasing operating costs.

The City would prefer to get the recovery rate for revenue generating facilities closer to the 50 per cent level, but Shaw mentioned that it is a tricky balance between trying to recover more and trying to still keep the facilities affordable for the community to use.

“It’s a fine line that we balance every year and something we really try and make sure that we take a very serious look at, but we’re pretty confident that these are the best rates that we can give our community while still recovering,” she said. “We’ll look for other opportunities to bring in some more revenue, whether it’s grants or extra events. So, we’re not completely writing off the possibility of getting up to that high recovery rate.”