Pickup basketball players square off and show off at the Big Marble Go Centre on Thursday afternoon. The city has expanded its "fair Entry Program that provides discounted entrance fees to recreation and cultural facilities for 2023. -- News Photo Collin Gallant
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
A program to discount the cost of certain city services for low-income residents will expand in 2023 to include some utility relief, but also transit fares and a greater percentage of recreation fees.
The five-year-old “Fair Entry” program was created to allow half-off admission to rec centres and local programming at the Esplanade for Hatters who met financial requirements.
This year, the subsidy increases to 75 per cent of the cost, and a cap on annual amounts to any one individual doubles to $200 for both recreation and $200 for museum entry and courses.
Mayor Linnsie Clark called to expansion one of council’s key accomplishments in 2022, and others spoke in favour before approving the changes in a 9-0 vote on Dec. 18.
“We’ve been talking about Fair Entry since the beginning of our term, and I think this makes it a lot more accessible,” said Coun. Alison Van Dyke.
“It’s important to maintaining the dignity of people accessing the programs.”
Public service committee colleague Coun. Allison Knodel said, “The move to 75 per cent is good way to get more people to participate.”
The program will also offer a 75 per cent discount to purchase monthly transit passes, up to a maximum of $630 per year per person, starting with February’s passes. That comes after a pilot program last summer.
The total cost in the department’s budget is expected to be $105,000 in 2023 and $109,000 in 2024 if most eligible residents take part.
“We want people who meet the criteria to know about the program and access it,” said Coun. Robert Dumanowski. “We need to get the word out more than we have ever before.”
To qualify, a person must have a Medicine Hat address and an annual income below the “low income” threshold as determined by Statistics Canada.
For 2021, those local rates were considered to be $23,549 for a single person, $29,316 for a two-person household and $42,759 for a family of four.
Separate from the program, but following the same guidelines, council approved a “utility relief” program in late November that would see qualifying Hatters receive $50 credits on power bills during the six highest-use months (January to March and July to September).
Administrators told council they expect the utility relief to be widely accessed, and at the same time, the details of other subsidies would be forwarded as well.
“We are anticipating that there will be common communication that increases the interest in it, and get more people registered,” said public services managing director Brian Mastel.
