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A break on licensing fees requested

The city will consider temporarily lowering bingo hall licensing fees when the new non-smoking bylaw is implemented Dec. 31, Deputy Mayor Lynne Bennett says.
The city will consider temporarily lowering bingo hall licensing fees when the new non-smoking bylaw is implemented Dec. 31, Deputy Mayor Lynne Bennett says.

Bennett said the city has been meeting with bingo hall owners, as promised during debate about the legislation.

“They had some questions about providing areas outside of the building to accommodate smokers and what kind of structures were okay and not okay to have, so we’re going to get them an interpretation of the bylaw, and it will include building code items as well,” Bennett said.

The owners are anticipating lower revenues once the bylaw takes affect, Bennett said, “so they asked if we might consider reducing their licensing fees for a temporary period until they see how things work out,” Bennett said.

“And they also wanted a little bit of flexibility in the prize boards, a little bit of a range instead of just a flat number, so we agreed we would look into that too.”

Any changes would require a bylaw amendment, Bennett said, “so it will have to come back to this council with some sort of report, and council will have to make the decision.”