The waiving of fees wasn’t the only thing being “waved” during the Washington City Council’s meeting Monday. Council members’ money was waved, too.

After voting to waive fees associated with a soccer tournament using city facilities Nov. 14, the council faced another request to waive fees — this one associated with the upcoming fourth-annual Trunk or Treat at Beebe Memorial Park. That’s when the money came out.

The Optimist Club of Washington sought the fee waiver for the soccer tournament. Club spokeswoman Melinda Pinkham told the council the club likely would lose money or break even by putting on the tournament. If the city waived the fees, that could help the club break even or reduce its financial loss, she said. After paying for referees, trophies and insurance, there is little profit, if any, left, the club contends.

The club may charge $90 for each team to register and admission fees of $3 for each adult and $2 for each child above age 5. Children who are 5 years old or younger do not have to pay an admission fee, according to a letter the club sent city officials.

“These are minimum fee amounts unlike travel leagues that charge $400/$500 per team to participate and have $7-8 gate admittance fees,” the letter reads.

The requests to waive fees elicited remarks from Councilman Doug Mercer.

“Mr. Mayor, several months ago we raised some fees. At the time, I made the comment that it had been the policy of this board for a number of years not to waive fees. The board, in fact, had made contributions toward the fees,” Mercer said.

The councilman said the council’s decision in June (with Mayor Mac Hodges casting the deciding vote to break a 202 tie) to waive the fees for baseball and softball tournaments at the city-owned McConnell Sports Complex would set a precedent he did not want to set. Those fees were estimated at $5,000.

Mercer said he would vote against any request to waive such fees.

Councilman Richard Brooks said he was willing to waive fees associated with the soccer tournament but not grant future requests to have similar fees waived.

“I think if we waive it, we ought to make it our last time,” the mayor added.

The vote to grant the waiver was 3-1, with Mercer dissenting.

Barbara Gaskins then approached the council asking that fees associated with the use of Beebe Memorial Park for the Trunk or Treat event be waived. According to city policy, the fee for using the park is $25 (for four hours or less) or $40 (for more than four hours) for city residents. Gaskins said other fees included the cost of having two police officers at the event. It was unclear what other fees might be charged and how much the cost for the police offers could be.

Hodges suggested there was no need for the police officers to attend the event. Gaskins said that would be acceptable.

At that point, Mercer reached into his pocket and pulled out a $20 bill, saying other council members could come up with the remaining $5 to go toward the $25 fee for using the park for less than four hours. Hodges kicked in $20 toward the cost of providing lighting for the event. Other council members made similar contributions to cover the Trunk or Treat fees.