A swimming club's request to have its pool fees cut has not been supported by Dubbo Regional Council.
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The Wellington Amateur Swimming Club contacted mayor Ben Shields to ask for the pointscore nights to be free of charge. At the current rate, the swimming club is charged about $280 every time its held.
The club's issue is that if the Wellington pool was open the same hours as the Dubbo Aquatic Leisure Centre, it would not be charged the out-of-hours fees.
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As a not-for-profit organisation, the club says the fees are out of its reach to pay on a weekly basis.
But the councillors say now is not the time for fees and charges to be discussed.
Deputy mayor Stephen Lawrence said council sympathized with the swimming club but waiving the fees wasn't feasible.
"We fully understand that all they want to do is run a swim club and provide a service to the community...but we just can't do it. Its something that needs to be considered, certainly in my view, as part of the budget," he said.
"It's a big new expensive facility we would ideally like it to be free for the community but that unfortunately is not a reality that we can do."
The discussion needed to happen in May next year when the council's fees and charges were up for discussion as part of the budget, councillor Dayne Gumley said.
He also raised concerns about the legal and insurance requirements council needed to follow, saying he was "not willing as a councillor to expose the organisation or the ratepayer to that kind of risk".
Councillor Jane Diffey said if council waived the fees for one club they would need to consider cutting the fees for others.
When the draft 2021/22 budget, including fees an charges for things like the local government area's pools, is developed next year, it will go on public exhibition for a minimum of 28 days.
Organisations and individuals will be invited to comment on the fees outlined in the draft budget before they are finalised.