Council hammered over basketball court fees hike

One Gympie councillor has defended the hike, blaming multiple previous failures to ensure fees kept pace with costs, and says it’s time for a conversation about the council and sport.

Gympie councillor Bruce Devereaux has posted a comprehensive defence of his council’s decision to double court hire fees at the Pavilion this financial year.

Gympie councillor Bruce Devereaux has posted a comprehensive defence of his council’s decision to double court hire fees at the Pavilion this financial year.

The basketball community has come out swinging at the move, GABA president Justin Brown calling it a “cruel blow” that would put extreme financial pressure on the sport in Gympie.

Mr Devereaux, while admitting the rise was “eye watering”, said it had been made necessary by previous failures to ensure court hire fees kept up with the cost of running the Pavilion.

He said there were other sports in Gympie that cost more to participate in, and that the real question now was “to what extent does and should council subsidise sports/clubs within our region? “

“Ultimately, it comes down to what are we as a community prepared to pay for?” Mr Devereaux said.

“The furore around basketball fees is an excellent example.

Basketballers outraged as Gympie council doubles Pavilion hire fees

“Basketball offers an engaging team environment to exercise, compete and build a like-minded social network, but like any sport these days it costs money to participate.

“I‘ve taken the time to go back through Fees&Charges on GRC’s website to note the sorts of increases basketball has faced in past years. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to find prior to 2017-2018.

“2017-2018 saw court hire at $25.50.

“2018-2019 saw a 50c increase to $26.00.

“2019-2020 saw another 50c increase to $26.50.

“2020-2021 saw an 80c increase to $27.30.

“This is the very definition of kicking the can down the road.”

Gympie Basketball primary school grand finals - Lara Jenkin tries to shoot over MVP Caitlin Killian. Photo: Miguel Galy

“And, of course, the latest 2021-2022 Fees&Charges have therefore had an admittedly eye watering jump of $27.70 to $55.00.”

Clearly the court hire fees had not been increasing with the cost to the community since at least 2017, Mr Devereaux said.

“Google tells me a basketball team traditionally has 12 players, although I think from what I‘ve seen 8 is probably closer to the number in Gympie teams. So at $55 for an hour of play, this would calculate out to somewhere around $3-$4 a player for a game for the court hire. I also asked some friends what they pay for membership to their sport and basketball isn’t at the higher end of the totem pole.

“This figure of $55/hr - which without a doubt is a big jump and would have come as a huge shock to players - is only to cover the costs of the court hire and not for council to make money off the community.”

Mr Devereaux said residents, ratepayers, council and councillors now needed to consider to what extent the council should subsidise sports and clubs in the region.

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“If council does subsidise sports/clubs we have the perfectly valid argument that those who don’t play sports and aren’t members of clubs are expected to subsidise the recreation of other residents on a weekly basis.

“If we do decide it’s okay to subsidise a sport by, for example, mowing the fields, should we subsidise others to a similar value, or should it be allocated by the number of players in that sport/club?

“As they’re used for exercise, should footpaths be included as part of council’s sporting subsidies for the community?

“Is it a council matter to provide things like clubhouses and courts and indoor sports venues, or should each sport fundraise or seek funding from its national body for expensive infrastructure?

“Council has poured millions into building and servicing local pools: why should swimming be deemed different from athletics, soccer, netball or indeed, basketball?”

The questions aren’t simple ones and the answers aren’t obvious, he said.

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“No-one in my position enjoys being hammered over single issues like this which are picked out of a much broader scope of decisions as the one thing which is important above all others and for which, for some, it seems no amount of good intentions and results in other areas will balance their individual scales of right & wrong. And I get that. I‘ve done the same thing.

“But I do think the anger and and angst around single issues like this are an opportunity for the region to ponder the wider question of council spending and debate the service levels and even just services in general which they want their rates to cover.”

Gympie Regional Council is preparing a response to the matter.

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