Existing user fees set for Festival Park and other Cape parks
After a lengthy discussion, the Cape Coral City Council decided to apply the same user fees and methodology to Festival Park as other parks in the city.
“For me, it doesn’t matter if it’s a new park coming on board, or an existing park. The fee schedule, for me, should be the same. That is a policy decision that at some point, we will make how that fee structure is implemented throughout the city,” Mayor John Gunter said at the Council workshop.
He asked his fellow board members if they wanted to recover anything and, if so, at what percentage.
“When you pick that number, then you have to back that in for all the organizations that we have in the city,” Gunter said. “You have to see the whole entire picture instead of pieces here and there in order to make an informed decision.”
He said that Festival Park is no different than other parks. The same user fees and methodology should be used until a new policy citywide can be developed.
Council heard a presentation around what it takes to establish a user fee for a park, the capital expenditures, operating expenditures and available hours for use. The discussion of a percentage for cost recovery and subsidy was also discussed based on the various tiers.
The build-up for field use cost recovery rates was broken down into the artificial turf field, natural turf field and amphitheater; its sustainable hours and full cost per hour. The total annual full cost for an artificial turf field is $454,860, natural turf field is $359,581, and $130,714 for the amphitheater.
The full cost per hour, according to the presentation, for an artificial turf field is $142, $300 for natural turf field and $261 for the amphitheater.
Councilmember Keith Long asked council to look at the fees being proposed because, when taking into account how many practices, games and number of fields used in a week, it could be a substantial amount.
“There is a situation to discuss on whether we were expecting to make money. Set rates for full cost recovery; those fields are going to sit empty,” he said.
City Manager Michael Ilczyszyn said with the park opening a couple of weeks ago, they do not have a historical demand on its fields.
“If someone wants to use this park, or relocate the program, we need to know the cost recovery. For us, there is no demand; it’s a brand-new facility. If someone comes in tomorrow for a proposal, I want to spin up a program, or relocate a program, we need to know what level of cost recovery,” he said.
To reach MEGHAN BRADBURY , please email mbradbury@breezenewspapers.com