Plans to lease out Toronto's two ski hills hit a bump Wednesday, as city budget committee members decided to take a look at other ways to save the $700,000 a year Toronto's paying to operate them.
The budget committee asked staff to look at options such as raising fees to use the slopes at Earl Bales Park in North York and Centennial Park in Etobicoke. City staff had recommended letting a private sector operator lease the hills and operate programs there themselves.The cost-saving plan had until Monday been a confidential portion of the city's 2010 budget deliberations, because leasing the hills would also mean eliminating about 360 part-time jobs.It would also mean that low-income users of the site would no longer be able to do so for free, under the city's Welcome Policy.The union representing those workers made the matter public Monday - and on Wednesday, councillors began taking a second look at it.Budget committee member Joe Mihevc requested a report on other options for dealing with the slopes."I'm not going to die on this hill but I do think it would be appropriate for us to look at a model - one that has full cost recovery, partial cost recovery, one that allows access by persons under the welcome policy and continues the programs," he said. "There is an argument to be made that rather than have the third party we increase the fees - that way we can at least include the welcome policy."However, Etobicoke Centre Councillor Doug Holyday thought the leasing was a good idea."I don't think this is a bad thing," he said. "If it went out to proposal call, somebody already in the ski business would probably do a better job than we do. The skiing experience would be enhanced with someone better in the ski business than us. And I don't think the price has to go up. It's a way of doing something that we can save tax dollars over and maybe provide a better service to our residents."