Community sports clubs in the Queenstown Lakes district may have to pay $20,000 to use ratepayer-owned sports grounds.
The Queenstown Lakes District Council-operated Lakes Leisure Ltd has issued "quotable bills" to 20 sports clubs - six in Wanaka and 14 in Arrowtown and Queenstown.
Lakes Leisure chief executive Fiona McKissock said the fees were based on the frequency of use and level of turf maintenance required, with a basic charge of $48 per field used.
Wanaka sports organisers Richard Allison and Nathan Simon were staggered to receive bills totalling $1600 last month, for grounds used in separate social cricket and touch rugby competitions.
Mr Allison has organised social cricket in Wanaka on behalf of the Albion Cricket Club for a decade and has never been billed for the use of grounds.
The money raised from subscriptions was used to help fund travel expenses for Albion players - Wanaka's only cricket club -competing in the Central Otago league.
Ms McKissock said the approximate fees amount of $20,000 had been in place for "some years". Lakes Leisure took over management of sports grounds in July and had signalled its intention to recover fees during public consultation meetings held at the time, she said.
"Some groups have been paying fees while others haven't, which is an inequitable situation."
The fees enabled clubs to secure a regular booking of fields and contributed to "overall turf management costs", she said.
Mr Allison said the fees hurt non-profit community clubs and threatened the viability of social sport.
Lakes Leisure was prepared to work with local clubs and did not want to put them in a position that resulted in genuine hardship, Ms McKissock said.
