Post last updated at 4:36 p.m. Friday, Jan. 13:
The Lawrence Parks & Recreation Department has decided not to implement admission fees for the city’s recreation centers and Prairie Park Nature Center this year, according to a news release Friday.
LPRD will, however, implement increased fees for programming and facility rentals, and the fees will go into effect on Feb. 1.
Derek Rogers, director of LPRD, told members of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board last month that the fees don’t require approval from the Lawrence City Commission — they could be decided at the staff level. He said at the end of the board’s meeting Monday that he would likely plan to move forward with increased fees for some city programs and facilities effective Feb. 1, and new admission fees to use the rec centers effective March 1.
Board members heard from dozens of community members opposed to the staff proposal to require daily fees of $3, monthly passes for $10 or annual passes for $100 for adult Douglas County residents to use Holcom Park and East Lawrence rec centers, Sports Pavilion Lawrence and the Community Building. The facilities are all currently free for residents to use.
The plan also included new entry fees for Prairie Park Nature Center. Adult residents of Douglas County would have been charged $3 for a day pass or $20 for an annual pass; however, the $100 annual rec center pass would also include admission to the nature center. Those younger than 19 would not be charged for entry.
The advisory board voted 4-3 to recommend increased facility and programming fees (Jacki Becker, Andrea Chavez, John Nalbandian, and Amber Nickel in favor; John Blazek, Marilyn Hull, and Val Renault opposed). However, they voted 6-1 to recommend against new fees to use the recreation center and enter Prairie Park Nature Center (Nalbandian in favor; Becker, Blazek, Chavez, Hull, Nickel and Renault opposed).
Several community members said an anticipated $200,000 of revenue that Parks & Rec staff members projected the facility admission fees would bring in was not worth the damage to the public trust. The board wanted the Lawrence City Commission to address the issue.
”The big picture is the $200,000 raised by the admission fees cost this community so much more in so many other ways,” Nickel said during the board’s discussion.
In a Friday update to the Lawrence City Commission meeting agenda for Tuesday, Jan. 17, Rogers wrote that “Even with the fee increases, the 2023 projected revenue will be short of the budgeted amount by $1.8-$2 million.”
“Staff is working on proposals to manage this General Fund gap and options will be presented through the quarterly budget adjustment process,” he wrote. “The Department will continue to work on improving financial sustainability and more accurately projecting revenues. Marketing efforts will be enhanced to help drive attendance for programs and special events/programs will be added to generate new revenue. Corporate sponsorships will also be pursued.”
Read more about the original fee proposal and LPRD’s budget woes in this article from Sunday. See the full memo to the city commission at this link.
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