Pembroke’s new ticket surcharge policy is seeing positive results for the recreation department.

Susan Ellis, recreation department manager, informed council recently they started charging a user fee earlier this year to organizers who wished the city to sell concert tickets on their behalf for events held at the Pembroke Memorial Centre.

“Tickets were sold for the Travis Tritt, George Jones and Dean Brody concerts and over $3,900 was earned for the provision of this service,” she said. When combined with the $3,237.17 the city received as a percentage of sales from a midway which visited in July, it was a pleasant surprise, as neither amount was anticipated for this year’s budget.

The money is placed within the program revenues account and invested back into recreation department programming and community events.

The ticket surcharges range from $2 per ticket for for-profit events, $1 for non-profit and 50 cents a ticket for those valued at less than $20. The fees were brought in earlier this year to help cover the cost of staff time handling ticket sales.

The surcharges are meant to help the department cover the expense of the extra staff time and other inherent costs. Ticket sales surcharges have become standard practice in other municipalities.

People who use city facilities but don’t want to pay the surcharge will have the choice of selling tickets themselves. The charges are only in place for times when recreation staff is asked to handle sales.

As an example, the Pembroke Lumber Kings handle their own ticket sales.

stephen.uhler@sunmedia.ca