Gympie Council rules out new sporting facility amid Pavilion fee outrage

The council’s struggling finances means there won’t be any relief on the horizon for the infamous Gympie sporting squeeze, which has increasingly plagued local clubs in recent years.

The Gympie Regional Council has all but ruled out building a new multi-purpose sporting facility any time soon amid outrage from local sporting groups over price hikes and space squeezes at the Pavilion. Pictured are Gympie Basketball players Ashlyn Steele (left) and Joshua Devereaux.

The Gympie Regional Council has all but ruled out building a new multipurpose sporting facility any time soon amid outrage from local sporting groups over price hikes and space squeezes at the Pavilion.

Gympie sporting administrators were left outraged earlier this month after the council doubled court hire fees to $55 an hour at the Pavilion for the new financial year.

Gympie Amateaur Basketball Association president Justin Brown said the “dramatic increase” was a cruel blow to the Gympie basketballing community in his response to the council’s communication on the price jump.

“This will put extreme financial pressure on our sport and would mean the club would need to increase the average membership fees of our members by $51.56 … a 36 per cent increase,” Mr Brown’s letter said.

The council’s corporate and financial services director David Lewis defended the call, saying it was needed “to assist in the expense associated with opening the venue”.

Gympie council director David Lewis has defended the call to hike court hire fees at the Pavilion.

Mr Lewis said the council discussed the Pavilion hire fee increase with both Gympie volleyball and basketball groups before the new figures were adopted.

“Written correspondence was also sent to the Basketball Association,” Mr Lewis said.

“The increase is to assist in the expense associated with opening the venue, such as staff, cleaning, insurance, utilities, etc. However this does not cover all associated costs.”

Mr Lewis said the council was “not in a financial position to build any new large facilities, nor cover the ensuing maintenance costs”, and a realistic timeline on building one would not come until the council’s financial situation improved.

The Gympie Basketball league says it won’t have access to the Pavilion for about half of the upcoming season. Photo: Miguel Galy

“Council understands the need for a facility and will be looking at options into the future once council’s financial position is more secure,” he said.

“Council produced a feasibility study in 2019 for consideration. The cost of a new venue was and is a major budget consideration. Over the past 14 months, council’s true financial position was realised, including the issues of low to no maintenance and the poor condition of council’s infrastructure (such as water and sewerage). Budget needs to be reallocated to these areas.”

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The combination of growing numbers and the Gympie Civic Centre being used as a Covid-19 vaccination hub has tightened the sporting squeeze for the GABA, with Mr Brown saying fixture releases for the upcoming season indicated the Pavilion would be unavailable to the league for about 50 per cent of the time.

Originally published as Gympie Council rules out new sporting facility amid Pavilion fee outrage