Title
Public Hearing to Consider Adoption of a Resolution Amending Master Fee Resolution No. 12191 to Add New and Revise Existing Recreation and Park Fees. (Recreation and Parks 280)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: David L. Rudat, Interim City Manager
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Recreation and Parks Department annually updates its fees for implementation on January 1. This 2019 fee schedule was reviewed and recommended by the Recreation and Parks Commission on October 25, 2018. Fee increases are proposed for youth and teen programs, athletic field use for youth leagues, bocce ball courts, commercial live film shoots, and small picnic areas. New fees recommended for implementation include non-profit events at the public boat ramps, a school picnic cleanup and scheduling fee, and a fee for privately run classes in parks. Also added this year is a 10% facility rental discount for active military personnel.
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, and the Consumer Price Index for the San Francisco Bay Area, and to reflect new 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
The Recreation and Park User Fees (Exhibit 1) are reviewed annually by the Recreation and Park Commission with its recommendation brought forward to the City Council. The Alameda Recreation and Park Department (ARPD) reviewed the current fees and made recommended adjustments based on its budget in combination with cost comparisons with other local jurisdictions including San Leandro, Pleasanton, Union City, and San Ramon plus specific relevant fees of the East Bay Regional Park District (Exhibit 2).
The Schedule is updated annually as part of the City budget process, which has a start date of July 1. Due to the timing of summer recreation programs, the Recreation and Park User Fee Schedule (Exhibit 1) is adopted earlier, with the implementation date of January 1, 2019. However, the school-year fees are noted separately with a start date of August 2019 to coincide with the start of the school year.
On October 11, 2018, the Recreation and Parks Commission approved and has recommended the Recreation and Parks User Fees as presented with the following two adjustments:
1) To increase the Active Military facility rental discount from the 5% as recommended by staff to 10%.
2) To change the name of the School Picnic Fee to the School Picnic Clean-Up Fee to better describe the reason for this fee.
The Commission also included in its recommendation that within 90 days staff bring to it for further discussion, a report and analysis on athletic field youth organization fees and in mid-2019 also bring a review of fees for further review of potential changes.
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 recover costs 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.
As of January 1, 2019, the California minimum wage will increase from $11/hour to $12/hour. In addition, the City Council approved a minimum wage ordinance that increases the minimum wage to $13.50/hour as of July 1, 2019, and to $15 per hour on July 1, 2020. With more than 150 Recreation and Parks part-time staff, the salary for many of these positions will increase in accordance with these minimum wage increases. It also increases the wages of other existing staff that may already be above the minimum wage in order to avoid compaction. For example, if a new staff person starts at $13.50 per hour in the person’s first year, and a more seasoned staff is already being paid $13.50 per hour, then the seasoned staff’s pay rate should increase to compensate the person for the experience the person brings to the program. To help offset these minimum wage increases, and the resulting compaction issues, fees for youth programs were increased 5% or more since those programs employ most of the ARPD part-time staff.
The following fees were adjusted for 2019:
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FEE TYPE |
CURRENT 2018 FEES |
PROPOSED 2019 FEES |
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CHANGES TO EXISTING FEES |
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Athletic Field Youth League - Non-Profits |
$4 / Hour |
$5 / Hour |
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This fee is being incrementally increased each year by $1 to improve cost recovery of field maintenance and supplies such as fertilizer, infield dirt, equipment maintenance and water costs. |
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Bocce Ball Courts |
Resident $10 / hour Non-Resident $30 / hour |
Resident $12 / hour Non-Resident $32 / hour |
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The Bocce Ball Courts at Lincoln Park provide two bocce ball courts as well as picnic tables. The proposed hourly fee increase remains lower than all but one of the other comparison cities (ranging from $11 - $26 / hour). |
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Live Film Shoot - Commercial |
$773 per day plus hourly facility rental |
$750 per half day and $1,250 per full day plus hourly facility rental |
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This fee was increased to be comparable to the East Bay Regional Park District and its live film shoot commercial fee for Crab Cove and Alameda Beach. |
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Large Group (75+) Event Cleaning Fee |
There is no increase in fees but the minimum number considered a large group was reduced from 150 to 75 people. |
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Small Picnic Area |
Resident $31 / Hour Non-Resident $41 / Hour |
Resident $33 / Hour Non-Resident $43 / Hour |
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This is a nominal 5% increase that assists with recovering costs of ARPD’s scheduling and Park Monitors who put out reservation signs and manage trash pick-up and maintain a clean park area. |
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Youth Programs |
5% increase: • Recreational After School Program (RAP) • World of Wonder (WOW) and Day Camp • One-Day & Break Camps • Tiny Tots 10% increase: • Teen Adventure Camp 15% increase: • Group Swim Lessons |
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The large majority of part-time staff are in ARPD Youth Programs. Increased fees help offset the increase in minimum wage as well as other rising costs for supplies and facilities. The after school and summer elementary age youth programs were increased by 5%; teen camp programs were increased 10%, which also covers increased transportation costs for summer field trips; and youth group swim lessons were increased 15% because it is well under current market rate with long waiting lists every summer. |
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Cancellation Fee |
$15 |
$15 plus all non-refundable costs |
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This is a clarification to add non-refundable costs. An example would be if a parent cancels a field trip at the last minute and the ticket was already purchased by ARPD. If another participant cannot be found to use that ticket, then the ticket cost will still be paid by the cancelling parent. |
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NEW PROPOSED FEES |
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School Picnic Clean-Up and Scheduling Fee |
None |
$25 / day |
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Every spring, nearly all schools (public, private and charter) have class picnics in Alameda Parks. This brings hundreds of children over a short period of time to parks across the island and creates an immense amount of scheduling and clean up. This is a nominal fee intended to help offset these costs. The Commission added the term “Clean-Up” and staff requests including scheduling as the basis for the fee. |
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Private Fee-Based Program Fee |
None |
$200 / year |
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This fee is for instructors who utilize park space to hold private fee-based classes, such as a boot camp type class that may use a basketball court and open grass space. There is an increasing number of these private uses of parks and this fee will both enable ARPD to offset clean-up costs as well as to require insurance from the private instructors for their regular use of the parks. It is comparable to the East Bay Regional Park District fee for these private classes in public spaces. |
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Active Military Personnel Discount for Facility Rentals |
None |
10% discount |
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As a way to honor our military personnel, especially those in the US Coast Guard who live in Alameda, ARPD is proposing a 10% discount for active military personnel for all facility rentals. |
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Public Boat Launch Facility Event Permit Fee |
None |
$200 / day |
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There is increasing request and demand by non-motorized paddling groups to host regattas and events that launch from the Encinal Boat Launch Facility. Once this facility is renovated, that demand is anticipated to increase. These uses bring a wonderful vibe and opportunity for residents and non-residents to access the water in Alameda. There currently is no fee for public boat ramp usage. An event fee is needed to offset the clean-up and scheduling costs. This will be available only to non-profit organizations. This fee is comparable to the East Bay Regional Park District fees. |
In 2018, a 3% one-time increase was imposed to most rental and program activities to recover transaction fees for ActiveNet, which is a new, user-friendly registration system. Since it is a web-based system, ARPD now pays fees based on a per transaction cost rather than an annual fee and the 3% increase was to ensure that the Recreation Fund would not experience a net loss from transitioning to a new system. Staff reviewed the gross revenues and transaction fees from December 2017 through September 2018 and the transaction fees are 2.7%. This confirmed that the increase added last year was sufficient to recover costs from the new system and did not impact resident usage of parks and programs.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
The Recreation and Park User Fee Schedule changes are intended to offset additional expenses as described above. Increases to the youth and teen programs were included to partially offset the impact of the Alameda minimum wage ordinance, but these increases are not sufficient to fully recover the additional part-time staffing expense. A larger increase would outprice the programs in the market and risk reduced enrollment which creates overall lower revenues. Subsequently, staff will be requesting an increase in the General Fund transfer to the Recreation Fund for the Fiscal Year 2019-21 Budget to help fund the increased minimum wage expense.
MUNICIPAL CODE/POLICY DOCUMENT CROSS REFERENCE
This action does not affect the Alameda Municipal Code.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
This action is not a project and is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Section 15378 (b)(4) of the CEQA Guidelines, because it involves governmental fiscal activities (revising recreation and park fees), which does not involve any commitment to any specific project which may result in a potentially significant physical impact on the environment.
RECOMMENDATION
Hold a public hearing to consider adoption of a resolution amending Master Fee Resolution No. 12191 to add new and revise existing Recreation and Park fees.
Respectfully submitted,
Amy Wooldridge, Recreation and Parks Director
Financial Impact section reviewed,
Elena Adair, Finance Director
Exhibits:
1. Fee Schedule
2. Fee Comparison