Napier sports organisations eligible for fees reimbursement

Non-for-profit sports organisations in Napier are eligible to apply to have fees waived or reimbursed. Photo / File

Non-for-profit sports organisations in Napier are now eligible to apply to have their fees waived or reimbursed.

Organisations which use Napier sports grounds, or the Rodney Greed Event Centre, can now apply to Napier City Council to have their usual fees waived.

A decision to change the criteria for charges for the 2020/21 summer sports period, which runs from September to March next year, was made at a NCC meeting last week.

A ruling to approve remission of charges for the 2020 winter sports period, covering April to August this year, was also granted.

Councillor Graeme Taylor said the decision was made after approaches from various sports clubs in the district.

"They have experienced a drop in revenue due to the Covid-19 restrictions, and we wanted to acknowledge the fact that they too have suffered in the fallout from the pandemic," he said.

The remissions will be funded from unused portions of the Rental Relief and Rates Relief Funds and can be regarded as an extension of those relief packages approved earlier this year.

Specific criteria for remission have been approved, including that remission will only be given to non-professional not for profit sports organisations, that one-off open ground sports games in general will be excluded, and representative games and tournaments will be excluded.

McLean Park charges will also be excluded; however, remissions may be considered on a case by case basis.

Council does not currently charge for booked practice sessions for any age group or for junior sport, so the remission criteria applies only to senior sport.