Beeman wants to discuss recreation fees
Published 12:56 pm Saturday, January 10, 2015
![FILE PHOTO | DAILY NEWS BALANCE NEEDED: The Patrick Cochran Memorial Skatepark in Washington provides recreational opportunities, as do other city facilities such as the McConnell Sports Complex and the Hildred T. Moore Aquatics Center.](https://www.thewashingtondailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2015/01/NEWS_RECREATION-copy.jpg)
FILE PHOTO | DAILY NEWS
BALANCE NEEDED: The Patrick Cochran Memorial Skatepark in Washington provides recreational opportunities, as do other city facilities such as the McConnell Sports Complex and the Hildred T. Moore Aquatics Center.
Washington’s City Council is scheduled to discuss recreation fees during its meeting Monday.
The council’s tentative agenda includes that discussion, at the request of Councilman Larry Beeman, as one of three items under the old-business heading of the agenda. Late last year, the council addressed recreation fees, among other fees, as a prelude to its budget-preparation work for the upcoming 2015-2016 fiscal-year budget, which takes effect July 1. In recent months, the council has reviewed fees and deficits related to Brown Library and the Grace Martin Harwell Senior Center, both operated by the city. The council also has reviewed fees the city charges for area youth sports leagues to use city sports facilities.
Council members said the detailed information they are now receiving about those and other fees lets them know if a specific service program is making money, losing money or breaking even. That information helps them make better budget-related decisions, they said.
In October, the council changed the fee schedule for youth sports leagues using city sports facilities.
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.
At that October meeting, 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 in October. “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.”
The council meets at 5:30 p.m. Monday in the Council Chambers in the Municipal Building, 102 E. Second St. To view the council’s agenda for a specific meeting, visit the city’s website at www.washingtonnc.gov, click “Government” then “City Council” heading, then click “Meeting Agendas” on the menu to the right. Then click on the date for the appropriate agenda.