Syracuse common councilors are considering raising fees on a number of popular parks programs, from swim lessons to skate rentals at ice rinks. For example, swim lessons will jump from $10 to $15 under the proposal. Deputy parks commissioner Julie LaFave told the council’s parks and recreation committee Thursday that it might be a 50 percent increase, but it’s still affordable.
“Those are definitely subsidized,” LaFave said. “I mean, you can’t say that swim lessons at $10, a dollar a class, is covering the cost of maintaining a pool, paying for employees.”
Other fee increases would include arts and crafts classes and admission to ice rinks. Parks commissioner Lazarus Sims says the fees haven’t gone up in 11 years, and feels they should be charging more when compared to other cities. At the same time, he knows that could hurt participation.
“We want it to be feasible for everyone to come join, and you start raising the prices, whether it’s OK or not, you just push people away,” Sims said. “So our model is to invite you in and come have a good time. We want you there.”
Sims says registration is strong for most programs, which cost a fraction of what they might for private lessons. Council parks committee chair Joe Carni says he’s heard a variety of feedback.
“First, people saying, ‘Oh, geez,’ you know, it looks like such a big increase in comparison to what we’re paying now,” Carni said. “There are other people that are saying it’s great and it’s a great value, and, to be frank, there are people that said, ‘We’d pay more for the service that we get with certain things.’ But, obviously, you don’t want to increase it more than it probably already is.”
Carni says instead of having such large increases every 10 years or so, he’d rather see smaller, more frequent increases. Deputy Commissioner LaFave stresses that not all fees are going up.
“We have after-school drop-in programs that are free, we have senior programs that are free. This is not affecting everybody that we serve; this is a small percentage of the population that we serve,” LaFave said. “There’s still plenty of options and other things going on that are unaffected.”
That includes fees at the city’s golf courses. Officials estimate the higher fees could raise an additional $120,000 dollars in revenue. Councilors are expected to vote on the fee proposal at its next meeting on March 12. Onondaga County also increased some of its park fees when the new budget took effect in January.
