By a 4-1 vote, Washington’s City Council changed the fee schedule for youth sports leagues using city sports facilities.

The change was made during the council’s meeting earlier this week. The council had been reviewing the issue for several weeks. Councilman Doug Mercer was the lone dissenting vote.

The council imposed a fee of $25 for each youth sports participant who lives in the city and a $35 fee for each participant who is not a city resident. The change came after the recreation fee review committee, having concluded its study of the sport facility and other facility rentals charged by the Recreation Department, recommended bringing back a $30-per-player fee (the amount charged prior to the City Council’s approval of the “kids play free” program) as a way of helping offset some of the costs associated with maintaining the sports facilities instead of increasing the use of tax dollars to pay for such costs. The committee also recommended no change in facility rental fees for city residents and nonresidents (who were charged twice the rate paid by city residents). The council held off on accepting the committee’s recommendations until it could further explore the issue.

In a previous council meeting, City Manager Brian Alligood told the council the issue before it was whether to impose a fee or use tax dollars to pay for maintenance of city recreation facilities, including those used by sports leagues. Council members also noted that some sports programs that use city facilities have many players who do not live in the city but use city facilities while playing sports. Their parents are not city taxpayers, city officials noted.

Mercer said he believes it was inappropriate for the council to consider the motion (made by Councilman Bobby Roberson) to set the fees “at his point in time” because the council talked about reviewing fees during the upcoming budget-building process. He said doing so would be “taking a step backward.”

Mercer said he favors a fee schedule that would recover at least 50 percent “of the outstanding cost for out-of-town participation.”

Councilman Richard Brooks said the fee schedule could be revisited if the latest change doesn’t adequately address the issue of finding a way to equitably charge non-city residents so they pay their fair share of maintaining city facilities they use.

Councilman Larry Beeman said the council should consider each sports league’s impact on city facilities.

“I would hate to see us a do a flat rate of $30 for city people and go to $40 for county (people) … and out-price those kids from playing,” he said. “Granted, I understand we’ve got some scholarship children — and that will occur and that will happen — but overall I would hate to see that happen. I don’t want to see us price kids out.”

When it comes to closing the gap between revenues coming in and expenses related to maintaining and operating the sports facilities, Roberson said, “The only way you’re going to close the gap is increase fees or reduce services. … Listen, I know it’s a difficult decision, but I’m just saying somehow we’ve got to closet the gap in the upcoming budget. … We still aren’t even close with the fees we’ve proposed.”