Title
Review and Recommend Adoption of the 2018 Recreation and Park User Fee Schedule
Body
To: Honorable Chair and Members of the Recreation and Park Commission
From: Amy Wooldridge, Recreation and Parks Director
Re: Review and Recommend Adoption of the 2018 Recreation and Park User Fee Schedule
BACKGROUND
On January 22, 1992, the City Council adopted Resolution Number 12191, codifying all fees for services into a City-wide fee schedule (Schedule). This Schedule is updated each year, via resolution, to reflect changes in the cost of providing services as well as in the Consumer Price Index for the San Francisco Bay Area.
The Recreation and Park User Fees (Exhibit 1) are reviewed annually by the Recreation and Park Commission with a recommendation brought forward to the City Council. The Alameda Recreation and Park Department (ARPD) reviewed its current fees and made adjustments based on its budget in combination with cost comparisons with other local jurisdictions including San Leandro, Pleasanton, Union City, and San Ramon (Exhibit 2).
The City’s Schedule is updated annually as part of the City budget process, which has a start date of July 1st. Due to the timing of summer recreation programs, the Recreation and Park User Fee Schedule (Exhibit 1) is adopted earlier, with the implementation date being January 1, 2018. However, the school-year fees are noted separately with a start date of August 2018 to coincide with the start of the school year.
DISCUSSION
Fees represent direct costs for program staff time, facility maintenance and utilities, plus indirect costs for administrative staff time and supplies. Fees are intended to be cost recovering as a whole system while balancing the benefits for the community and individuals. For example, programs that are available to a broad section of the community as well as at-risk populations, such as the free Parks and Playgrounds program, free Summer Rec Baseball, Mastick Senior Center activities or Recreation Afterschool Program (RAP), have a lower cost recovery rate than programs with individual benefit to specific user groups such as facility rentals or adult sports leagues with a higher cost recovery rate to offset and balance the total budget.
The following fees were adjusted for 2018:
|
Fee Type |
Proposed 2018 Fees |
2017 Fees |
|
FEE CHANGES |
|
|
|
Athletic Field Youth League - Non-Profits |
$4/ Hour |
$3 / Hour |
|
Live Film Shoot - Commercial |
$750 plus hourly |
$500 plus hourly |
|
Live Film Shoot - Educational |
$250 plus hourly |
New fee |
|
Alameda Point Gymnasium - Entire Facility is 2 or more courts |
$115/hr for practices $125/hr for League Games $150/hr for Tournaments |
$115 |
|
Portable Toilet Fee |
At cost from vendor plus admin fee |
$85 / Regular $115 / ADA |
|
Krusi and Lincoln (Harrison) Recreation Center |
$120 / hour R $140/ hour NR |
$90 / hour R $115 / hour NR |
|
Admin Fee for Revising Permits |
$25 |
$15 |
|
Summer Bus Rental |
At cost from vendor plus $3.50/mile plus $20/hour |
$164/day plus $3.50 / mile plus $20 /hour |
|
The following program fees were adjusted to offset State of CA minimum wage increases. The following programs had the fees increased by 3%: • Recreational After School Program (RAP) • World of Wonder (WOW) • Teens • Aquatics • Day Camps • Break Camps • One Day Camps and Workshops |
|
|
|
|
|
NEW FEES |
|
|
|
Estuary Synthetic Turf Adult League |
$700 R - 10 games or $70 per game $800 NR - 10 games or $80 per game |
New fee |
|
Krusi Park Stage |
$30 / hour |
New fee |
|
Center Rental - Non-Resident Non Profit |
$55/ hour |
New fee |
|
Program Transportation Fee |
Fee determined based on cost from Vendor |
New fee |
|
|
|
R = Alameda Resident NR = Non-Alameda Resident |
The field use fee was increased in order to better balance the expense to manage and maintain athletic fields, including staff time for maintenance and scheduling, supplies such as fertilizer, infield dirt, equipment maintenance for mowers, and water costs. The youth athletic organizations have been informed at the field scheduling meetings over the last two years that ARPD intended to incrementally raise the field use fees and were also directly notified prior to the Recreation and Parks Commission meeting. The current fees annually raise $40,000 in revenue for field maintenance. However, this field maintenance cost totals over $120,000 annually so only one-third of the actual expense is being captured and the remainder is subsidized from the Parks Maintenance budget in the General Fund.
Live film shoot fee was increased for commercial shoots, which occurs 2 to 3 times per year. These are shoots for commercials and other high revenue generating businesses. ARPD lowered the fee for educational film shoots, which would include documentaries.
The hourly rate for the entire facility use of the Alameda Point Gym was segregated into different use types to address the staffing and facility impacts. The current fee of $115/ hour provides a $5 discount for one organization to use all four courts. This fee remains the same for practice times. If the organization is hosting league games or tournaments, then there are more people using the facility, especially for a tournament which can bring hundreds of participants and spectators. This increases the facility costs for everything from restroom stock to increased time for cleanup and ARPD often increases our staffing levels to accommodate the influx of people in the facility for tournaments.
Portable toilets are sometimes needed for gym tournaments, larger events in parks and other activities. The use group always has the option to rent the toilets on their own. ARPD offers to rent the toilets on behalf of the group and this fee reflects those current costs plus a small administrative fee.
The increased fee for the Harrison Center at Lincoln Park is because this facility has an enclosed outdoor patio area with a BBQ unlike other recreation centers and has a higher seating capacity than other centers. The Krusi Park Recreation Center is anticipated to complete construction in 2018. As a new facility with a full kitchen and higher seating capacity, it also is at the higher rate structure for recreation center rentals.
ARPD to leases busses for summer programs from an outside agency and then offsets costs by renting the bus and driver to other Alameda based nonprofit organizations for summer trips when it is available. The summer bus fee change provides staff with better flexibility to adjust when the outside agency’s fee structure increases to ensure full cost recovery.
New fees include an adult league rate specific to Estuary Park synthetic turf field. Since this is considered a higher level facility, there are already separate Estuary Park fees in place and this new fee increases the programming opportunities at the facility.
A new stage was installed at Krusi Park in memory of two community members. The community is already requesting to rent this stage for small plays and activities and this new fee establishes a way to rent the stage separate from the adjacent picnic area.
There is an existing fee for Alameda based nonprofit organizations to rent a recreation center for a meeting. A new rate is proposed for non-Alameda non-profit organizations to rent for meetings. Meetings are a separate fee from standard rentals because they have less staffing and facility cost impacts.
The Program Transportation Fee gives ARPD staff the flexibility to recover costs when providing bus transportation during program activities. This includes Trails End Day Camp in which participants are transported on a bus every day from Alameda to Redwood Regional Park as well as other field trip programs.
All youth and aquatic program fees were increased by 3% in order to absorb the state minimum wage increase from $10.50/hour to $11/hour. This will continue to increase by a dollar each year until it reaches $15/hour in 2022, with a caveat to allow the governor to postpone a wage increase if there is an economic downturn. This impacts all of the ARPD youth programs that utilize part-time recreation leaders. The programs remain below or similar to comparable programs fees. The spread between Alameda resident rate and non-resident rates was also increased so that the non-resident rate is consistently 15% - 20% higher for all use fees.
The overarching goal of the Recreation and Park User Fee Schedule is to provide effective cost recovery with a balanced model of community benefit. The Recreation and Park Department continues to seek and secure additional program and facility funding through partnerships, grants, donations and fundraising events.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
The Recreation and Park User Fee Schedule changes are anticipated to generate changes to the Recreation Fund 280 that will offset additional expenses as described above.
RECOMMENDATION
Review and recommend adoption of the 2018 Recreation and Park Department User Fee Schedule
Respectfully submitted,
Amy Wooldridge, Recreation and Parks Director
Exhibits:
1. 2018 Recreation and Parks Department Annual User Fee Schedule
2. User Fee Comparisons