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Kincardine council to review its hike in lottery licence fees By Liz Dadson |
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A hike in Kincardine's lottery licence fees is putting the squeeze on fund-raising activities for the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 183, Kincardine. Robert Grey, the Legion's Nevada chairman, and Dave Little, Bingo chairman, came to Kincardine council last night (July 6), urging the municipality to reconsider the rate hike, to three-per-cent from one-per-cent. "We find the increase to be excessive in that our current licence fees go from about $500 per year to about $1,500 per year, which is a 300-per-cent increase for only eight licensed events per year," said Grey. He said Legion volunteers put in many hours of their own time at the weekly bingos, weekly meat draws, raffles and through the sale of break-open Nevada tickets, to raise money on behalf of those in the community who need financial assistance. "This increase (in lottery licence fees) will have a big impact on the amount of money our organization can donate to the charities within our community," said Grey. "We always believed that licence fees were collected to cover administration costs, not to make a profit." He said if a group held one raffle, with a prize value of $50,000 (the maximum the municipality can licence), under the old licence fee of one-per-cent, the fee would be $500. With the new three-per-cent licence fee, the cost jumps to $1,500. "Does it take that much money to cover the administration of one licence?" asked Grey. "We are not the only group that this increase will have an impact on, as there are other groups, such as Lions, Rotary, Hospital Auxiliary, and many others, who raise funds on behalf of the community and, therefore, will have fewer funds to donate due to the higher licence fees." "I didn't realize it worked that way," said deputy mayor Anne Eadie. "Perhaps we need to take another look at this fee." Clerk Donna MacDougall said the licensing clerk spent about 13 per cent of her time (230 hours) on lottery licences last year. Plus, there must be another person trained to do this in case the licensing clerk isn't in the office. "We're not making money off lottery licences," said MacDougall. "Neighbouring municipalities are charging two- to three-per-cent. We're covering our costs."
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She pointed out that a maximum lottery licence fee would be $900, for a bingo or a raffle. Councillor Kenneth Craig asked that a report be brought to a future meeting for discussion. "We can't change it tonight. We need more information to justify what was put into the budget this year." Mayor Larry Kraemer suggested a report be brought forward to the corporate services committee meeting. "There are two sides to this problem. The staff needs to cover the administration costs. But on the other side are non-profit groups collecting money for community purposes. We should take a closer look at it." Council agreed to refer the issue to the Aug. 10 corporate services committee meeting. "Thanks for taking the time to reconsider this issue," said Grey. Scrolling stops when you move your mouse inside the scroll area. You can click on the ads for more
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