05/06/1991 Park Board Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Search

Fees and Charges A Legitimate Source of Revenue We are experiencing a park renaissance, which, is directed properly, will result in more and better public services that have ever existed. To accom- plish this we must continue to evaluate and modify many of our traditional operating policies, practices, and procedures. We have now come to a semi -awareness not only of our opportunities, but also of our obligations with respect to sources of revenue in public parks and recreation areas. Indicative of this awareness, this change in thinking, is the attention given on a national scale to fees and charges to provide additional means for operating and maintaining recreational facilities and programs. A system of fees and charges would more nearly assess on an equal basis the people who enjoy the facilities. This does not mean that every man, woman, and child who enters the park must pay an entrance fee. Certainly, no one advocates the fee -and -charge system as the only method of financing operation and maintenance costs, but everyone wants to make facilities available to the largest number possible. This desire can become a reality through the assistance of a well -planned, equitable, program of revenue producing activities. All of us have read on innumerable occasions, that, "Participants appreciate those activities for which they are expected to pay, much more than those which are offered without charge," People feel more responsible toward an activity or a privilege if scme direct cost is involved. A token fee or small charge distinguishes the special activity from the park, per se. As a result of this additional appreciation, it is often easier to control the discipline of the patron or participant. Many of those who object to fees and charges for recreational activities in public parks contend that public properties are provided by taxation and the patron should not be "taxed" again in the form of a fee for the privilege of use. If this is true, then we should abolish all public fees which might be classed in this category: the parking meter - a charge to keep your car on a public street; the toll bridge - a charge to use a public bridge; the toll road- • charge to use a public road; the hunting license - a charge to hunt on public land; the fishing license - a charge to fish in public waters, etc. These user fees provide a means of keeping taxes down. The argument has been advanced from time to time that if a park or recreation agency imposes a fee or a charge for a_:y of its activities, that agency loses its government immunity with respect to _public liability. This is not true... The argument has been advanced from time to time that if a park or re