Reader-submitted Article :
Suggestions for dealing with rising city costs

Since the city appears to be having trouble coming up with ways to deal with a monetary short-fall, other than by raising water and sewer rates, I have decided to step forward with some suggestions. City services like parks, rinks and golf courses apparently don't have meters so don't pay for water or, I suspect, for sewer services. (“Council votes against raising water and sewer rates.” in Prince Albert Daily Herald, Tuesday 9 August 2011) I assume here that they meant the Cooke Municipal Golf and Curling Club since the privately owned courses pay for sewer services and water used. Parks and rinks are community services that are not provided by private enterprise and even the curling club portion, for the same reason, could be deemed a necessary community project but a golf course? Why are we paying for a golf course? Is there anywhere on Earth that has more golf courses per capita than Prince Albert, SK? Here's a news flash: sell the Cooke Golf Course portion to private industry and they would PAY TAXES! They could even have a meter and pay for their water and sewer! Those people who want to play there could continue to do so,.... at a slightly higher price perhaps, since they would be covering the cost instead of having those costs covered by all of us tax payers, many of whom never get a chance to play the Cooke course. There would also be considerable savings in moving city golf course workers and golf course maintenance costs from the city to a private golf course. That could provide a fair bit of the money needed for our aging infrastructure. (“City looks at ways to do with less,” Prince Albert Daily Herald , Friday 12 August 2011)