Wednesday, May 12, 2004

Cash-starved local gov'ts hike fees By JOHN MUNFORD jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com “Pay to play” is about to take on a new, more expensive meaning in Peachtree City. A series of new recreation fees and fee increases approved by the Peachtree City City Council will add $95,792 to the city’s general fund and another $41,000 that will be used for upkeep of the recreation venues, according to estimates from city officials. The extra charges will affect youth sports associations, users of the Kedron Fieldhouse and Aquatic Center, participants in recreation classes and vendors at the annual Shakerag Arts and Crafts Festival. The fees were developed at the request of the City Council from the 2003 retreat, said Randy Gaddo, the city’s director of leisure services. The new fees and increases will not apply to people enrolled in recreation programs, but they will instead be added on the next time registrations are conducted, Gaddo added. Among the new fees are “facility maintenance fees” for sports associations which use recreation department facilities. The charge, $5 for Fayette County residents and $10 for out of county residents, could raise over $41,000 a year, but that money would be used only for improvements to the recreation fields or amenities that support each sport, Gaddo said. That money will be put into a special fund and the sports associations will have input on how it is spent, Gaddo said. The idea is to use that money for maintenance requests that are “over and beyond” what a traditional recreation department would be able to do using only city funds, Gaddo said. Previously, the city has not charged youth sports associations for use of city facilities, instead the associations made in-kind contributions to field or facility upkeep, Gaddo noted. “We’re basically going to a pay-for-play system,” Gaddo said. Last year, more than 7,100 youths participated in two seasons of sports supported by city fields or facilities, Gaddo noted in a memo to council. Traditionally, the youth sports associations use volunteers to provide the programming such as registration, game scheduling and securing officials for the games. If the city had to perform that function, the cost of the city’s recreation program would increase significantly, Gaddo said. “Our budget would be astronomical,” Gaddo added. Representatives of the youth sports associations were actually pleased with the plan because it creates in essence a “savings account” to use for the fields and facilities, Gaddo said. The city’s BMX program will be handled differently than other sports associations since it doesn’t operate with a seasonal schedule. Instead, a $1 facility maintenance fee will be charged for each race category a rider enters in one event. At the Kedron Aquatic Center, open swim pool fees will increase by $1 and pool pass rates will increase from between $10 to $40 for individuals and families. Those increases will raise more than $30,000 a year, according to city estimates. Room rental rates at the aquatic center will also increase by $10, adding an additional $3,100 a year. A new facility maintenance fee of $1 will also be assessed for participants in classes offered by the recreation department. This is expected to add more than $33,000 in revenue. Also, class fees for out-of-county residents will increase by 50 percent of the normal fee charged to county residents, which would add an estimated $7,000 in additional revenue. In many cases, the fees charged by the recreation department haven’t increased in a long time, Gaddo noted. The increase to out-of-county users is justified because they don’t pay taxes locally to fund the recreation program, Gaddo said. There were also new fees added to the city’s park and facility rental fees, which are rented at hourly rates. The reasoning to phase-in the new fees and increased fees is so participants aren’t surprised by the extra charges, Gaddo added. “We want to give people time to absorb it and think about it,” Gaddo said.