DanO good post.
Only thing I'd like to add, although Innisfil is surely a big part of the equation they already are far from not alone. Other Lake Simcoe municipalities & some from other places also are playing the same game.
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DanO good post.
Only thing I'd like to add, although Innisfil is surely a big part of the equation they already are far from not alone. Other Lake Simcoe municipalities & some from other places also are playing the same game.
I don't mean to rub salt in the wound (ok, maybe a little:tongue:) but this thread sure gives me a chuckle. Go fishing and pay for parking and boat launch? The heck you say? Ha Ha Ha...... Never heard of such nonsense?Quote:
Originally Posted by blasted_saber
Where we fish we almost always pay to park & launch.
The problem for me is two fold.
Residents free but non resident pay though the roof.
Completely out to lunch rates designed to keep the area for residents only on a lake which receives lots of money from higher government sources.
IBP looking for $45 to launch & park a boat & trailer (residents free) compared to where we launch on Lake Erie for $10 which includes parking, assitance at the launch and a ride back and forth from your parking spot to your boat. Great service which also expedites faster turnaround at the launch site. In turn they launch & recover boats faster and keep the line ups moving quite quickly. Equals more money for them.
This the "only" part I'm not sure of Woodsman
$35-45 is steep. But not knowing their finances, not knowing the amount of traffic it receives and or maintenance required, hard to say.
/devils advocate
"They don't howl about the stocking program that all tax payers contribute to or the improved sewage treatment plants paid for by provincial taxpayers. We already pay to use the lake in our provincial taxes."
Imo, this takes train of thought it to another level.
Yep everyone already pays taxes. I hope no-one then ever complains again about the lack of funding for the MNRF. Or non angling residents not paying their fair share. After all everyone does in fact contribute, we anglers and hunters just contribute more, a lot more. Or hatcheries closing, or lack of enforcement, especially on the waters.
****
Of coarse it's a tax grab, of that there's no doubt. Pay as you play type. Get used to it, it's the future and really the right way to do things.
Hmmmm. Seems to me most people here gripe about provincial taxes, and subsidizing the GTA. Aren't you/we tired of being heavily taxed so people in the GTA can ride the TTC and far more (road improvements and more)....About time (IMO) the GTA starts paying their fair share. Especially user groups who leave the city each weekend and descend on small towns. See Ms Wynne bringing in road tolls around the GTA.
True cottagers pay land taxes to the appropriate municipality. What about non cottagers, non anglers who pay next to nothing. Heck considering how much boat traffic there is in the Kawarthas, Muskoka's, polluting the waters, or adding phosphates. The lack of Police and COs on the Lakes, or the emergency calls and SAR. Maybe it's about time they to start chipping in a little more.....
By all means, go to Algonquin Park on any Saturday. Count the number of busses, throngs of people. Thats just scratching the surface..........
Last edit.
reality. Ontario is large, there are roughly 13 million people (how many Outdoors cards, only a fraction) Roughly half that resides in the GTA. Most of whom know little about the outdoors, nature, wildlife, and more, nor do they seem to care. And millions of them vacate the city every weekend and descend on their playgrounds and pay next to nothing. Leaving it to residents to clean up after them, pay for most of it, and more.
There is always another side to the story, so I looked back and see what may have prompted this action.....and yes last year the residents of Innisfil decided to take action to get control of the beach back from unruly visitors. Seem to be a sticking point for many years.
some more background from last Sept...http://www.simcoe.com/news-story/583...il-beach-park/Quote:
So yesterday, Picher and several other residents decided to “take back the beach” by gathering at the park.
“The area has just been ignored, the issues been ignored for years and years. Every single long weekend or weekend in the summer the beach is overrun with people leaving messes,” he said. “The side streets are littered with cars, there’s just so many issues that town council has just overlooked.”
Residents started arriving early in the morning and parked their cars in lot D, which is open to everyone and is closest to the water.
By 8:30 a.m. Pitcher estimated that about 60 cars with resident permits had already arrived, and several more continued to stream in.
Al Schank, who has lived in Innisfil for almost 30 years, was one of the residents who was at the event.
“It’s called tourism, people from the GTA coming up here, it’s cheap to come here,” he said “Not that I’m not in favour of tourism but there is a limit to what this park can facilitate, and we are way above that.”
Others were angry with recent changes at the boat launch.
“There used to be 22 spots,” said Lorrie Richardson “Now they only have 10.”
While there is a second boat launch parking lot, it’s quite a distance from the launch.
And she noted there is a lot of chaos on the dock.
Other residents commented that they have started paying to use private marinas to get their boats in the water, instead of coming to IBP.
“I haven’t been in the water once this year, because you have to get up early to get a spot,” said Charlene Szabo.
Pitcher said this is not about residents versus visitors. He believes there can be a balance.
“They need to start controlling the gate, there’s a lot of people that will come in, drop off the family, park on the side street and use the beach for free,” he said. “And they aren’t kicking in a cent to clean up.”
He also said there can be benefits to having so many visitors, but that the town could do a better job to manage it.
It sounds like the folks that pay for the facilitates thru their municipal taxes were unable to even use the beaches due to so many visitors coming into town on the weekends. Hardly fair.
So in response, they got their town council involved. The result is to spend money on better policing and by-law enforcement so they could take back control of the beach and by charging user fees for non-residents re-coup those costs. Sounds prudent.
May not make visitors to happy, but I understand where they are coming from. If you still think that it should be free, with all the efforts they are taking to control access to the beach for everyone, then I guess you will be looking to go somewhere else this year.
In Toronto you can buy a parking permit for the street you live on for between 15-52 dollars. This allows you to park overnight on " your " street without getting a ticket. If you don't live on the street no permit equals ticket. Everyone in Toronto paid for that street and pays for maintenance on that street.Quote:
Originally Posted by Woodsman
People that pay 11,000.00 in property tax want to be able to park in front of their house.
Same as people in lake Simcoe communities. They pay the taxes they make the rules.
Not that it's really pertinent, but people in Toronto proper have the lowest mill rates (land taxes) in the province, yet receive the most services.
True .... And I agree not pertinent.Quote:
Originally Posted by JBen
That would be, I suspect, due to population density...mil rates are adjusted to ensure that townships have enough operating capital. A township with a population of 20K would need more per household than a city of 5 million.Quote:
Originally Posted by JBen
There are single apartment buildings in Toronto that have a larger population than the entire town of Kemptville. :)