District of Squamish council has scrapped the controversial fee it has been charging events that use local trails.
But with the $5-per-participant levy on organized activities that used district-owned property - including trails, roads, road allowances or rights-of-way - scrapped, some councillors want to know where the money to maintain Squamish's popular mountain bike trails will come from.
At council's regular business meeting on Tuesday (Feb. 21), Coun. Ron Sander voted against the move, stating that another mechanism should be in place before axing the mountain bike trails' only source of district revenue.
Coun. Bryan Raiser, who wasn't at the meeting for the vote, agrees. Although poorly implemented, the purpose of the fee was to generate money to cover the costs of trail maintenance, he said. Despite being the only municipality in the province to charge such a fee, Raiser said he thought it was a valuable tool.
"We should have figured this out months ago," he said, noting this year's budget requests are around the corner.
Local volunteers spend hundreds of hours keeping the trails up and the district and community profit from that work, he said. A 2006 district study on the economic impact from mountain biking reported the sport generated $1.7 million per summer in direct and indirect cash to Squamish, supporting approximately $424,000 in wages and salaries.
"We market [the mountain bike trails] and people choose to live here because of them," Raiser said.
Squamish Off-Road Cycling Association (SORCA) vice-president Cliff Miller questioned how much of the $12,506 collected by the municipality went back into the mountain bike trails.
Last year, in an attempt to maintain the trails, SORCA launched its own voluntary trail pass program, raising $14,000. That cash doesn't come close to covering what is needed, Miller said.
The Test of Metal group of races will continue to charge the fee as a way to raise money for the routes, Miller said.
"I don't think the event organizers should be getting a free ride off the backs of volunteers," he said.
