Meaford council is adopting an update to its recreation fund policy, increasing the amount of funding available for each person.
During a meeting on Jan. 30 a report by Clerk and Director of Community Services Matt Smith was brought forward, recommending adopting the updated policy.
This update comes following Coun. Brandon Forder’s motion, which was passed on Jan. 16, to bring forward an updated recreation fund policy, which includes amendments to the annual funding cap and eligibility criteria.
The report says the Recreation Subsidy program was established in 2019 with an agreement with the Meaford Food Bank & Outreach to administer the program.
The program allows residents of the municipality with a household income under a defined level to apply for a financial subsidy to a range of recreation activities including baseball, archery, hockey, and bowling based on financial need.
“I’ve had a lot of family people address me, especially in the old Sydenham Township about the difficulty they have financing the involvement of their kids in reasonable recreational activities, simply because they are not close enough to urban Meaford to take advantage of our amenities and have to do it elsewhere,” says Mayor Ross Kentner.
Staff propose increasing the annual funding cap from $500 to $750 per person for children, and from $250 to $500 per person for adults. Additionally, it’s also recommended including support worker costs in the eligibility criteria.
“If we are increasing the threshold for income, it seems to make sense that the cap of funding for person would go up as well, because $500 doesn’t get you as much as it once did,” says Smith. “We would like to include the cost of support workers as being eligible for these grants. Every year we have people who wish to take advantage of programs or summer camps or regular programming who require support workers and we as the municipality don’t have the ability to provide that for them. Often times families have to pay for a support worker to come with the adult or child who wants to participate and that can be fairly expensive, and so including those costs in the eligibility criteria, would just benefit those groups.”
Staff will be providing the update to Meaford Food Bank & Outreach, and also work to advertise the expanded eligibility.
Further details to see if you or your child can apply for recreation funding in the municipality can be found on the Meaford website here.