Lawrence City Commission to discuss proposal on Tuesday
Members of the Lawrence Parks and Recreation Advisory Board on Monday said they would not be representing the community if they did not oppose a proposal to charge fees to use the city’s recreation centers.
The advisory board does not get to make the final decision on the proposal, though.
Annual memberships to use Lawrence’s recreation centers — currently admission-free — will cost $250 per adult, or $150 per senior or youth, if the Parks and Recreation department’s proposal is approved. A household membership — up to five people, including at least one adult — would cost $400 annually. Monthly rates to use the rec centers will be $25 per adult, $40 per household or $15 per senior or youth.
Revenues from memberships are part of the Parks, Recreation and Culture department’s plan to offset its $1.8 million share of the city’s anticipated $6 million deficit in 2026. (Read more coverage of the city’s budget process at this link.)
More than 80% of the more than 2,600 people surveyed in the city’s community engagement process said they “strongly oppose” (61.2%) or “somewhat oppose” (20.3%) the fees.
Click here to display more background information about the proposal.
The city has never charged residents to use recreation centers. In 2023, the city planned to implement fees for rec centers but reversed course after the proposal was met with concerns from dozens of members of the public.
The department says this year that without adding rec center membership fees, they would have to make deeper cuts, including potentially removing some park amenities such as shelters, restrooms and playgrounds, and rehoming the birds of prey at Prairie Park Nature Center. The department would also cut six full-time and multiple part-time positions, reduce hours and services at rec centers, and hold fewer fitness classes, sports and recreational programs.
Under the fee proposal, youths ages 5 to 17 would be able to enter rec centers for free from 3 to 5 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, and from 1 to 5 p.m. on Wednesdays, when Lawrence Public Schools have early dismissal.
Qualified rates would be available for financially stressed households. People would prove their eligibility through a low-barrier process, such as showing they qualify for free or reduced-price school lunches or KanCare, according to the agenda and previous meeting discussions.
The qualified rates would be 60% off the regular rates — monthly memberships at $10 per adult, $16 per household or $6 per senior or youth; annual memberships at $100 per adult, $160 per household or $60 per senior or youth, according to the agenda.
The agenda also includes a lower price membership option for access to only the Holcom Park and East Lawrence recreation centers. Those would be $12 monthly for adults, $20 for households or $8 for seniors or youths, with annual rates at 10 times those amounts.
Day passes and punch cards would also be available.
20250710-Parks-and-Rec-fees-tables“It’s very hard to be positive towards these fees, particularly how they would impact the most vulnerable members of our community,” said Lisa Hallberg, advisory board chair. She said it was very difficult to see how the fees could ever be truly equitable.
Hallberg asked if staff members had considered asking for voluntary contributions. She said some museums will allow anyone to enter for free, but patrons who wish to do so can make donations, for example.
Luis Ruiz, director of parks, recreation and culture, said they had not.
Board member Marilyn Hull said children ages 17 and under “should be free, always. Full stop.”
Nonresidents — which would include people who live in Douglas County and do not have a Lawrence address — would pay 20% more than the resident fees under the proposal. Hull also said she thought nonresident fees should be 50% greater, at a minimum.
Multiple board members said it wasn’t clear whether the local market would support fees at the rec centers. Board member Taylor Bussinger said some area gyms owned by corporations charge $11 or $18 per month; the city’s proposed fees would be $25 per month for a single adult.
“How many people would not even use this and instead jump ship to one of the private gyms?” Bussinger said.
In hopes of easing some community concerns about the impacts on vulnerable people, city staff members proposed qualified rates at 60% less cost than the resident rates. People would prove their eligibility through a low-barrier process, such as showing they qualify for free or reduced-price school lunches or KanCare, according to the agenda and previous meeting discussions.
Board Vice Chair Vicki Collie-Akers said, however, she had some concerns about those rates, considering the “shifting ground” at the federal level.
“I also just really have concerns that this will beget a cycle that leads to closure of some of the community centers. I think if I lived closer to Holcom or East Lawrence Rec Center, I might have questions about the value of the memberships given those centers,” Collie-Akers said. “We also know that some of the communities that are concentrated around there have the lowest income of our entire city. So it doesn’t seem implausible to me that we would see low membership uptake in those neighborhoods that begets a conversation that those community centers are underutilized, leading to discussions about closure.”
Board member Ruth DeWitt asked if the department had any luck finding sponsors to help bring in revenues, a suggestion that has come up multiple times over the past few years.
“That takes a professional, full-time person or a consultant to pursue these things,” Ruiz said. “We do not have that on staff right now.” However, he said he thinks the city does need to pursue sponsorships, naming rights and similar revenue creation.
Staff this year have also proposed adding spectator fees for people who come to watch athletic tournaments hosted at the rec centers, though they have not released details about what those fees would cost. Board member Lee Ice said some tournaments might not come to Lawrence anymore if the department starts charging spectator fees. He also said consultants have told the city to implement fees at rec centers.
“We need to focus on our community, because we’re not like a lot of other communities,” Hull said.
Board member John Nalbandian drafted a statement the board intends to provide to the Lawrence City Commission ahead of its discussion of the fee proposal:
“We have reviewed staff’s recommendation to meet the city’s budget targets for Parks and Recreation and Culture. We believe the budget target would have significant negative effects on access to parks and recreation facilities and challenge the city’s commitment to equity and inclusion,” he read aloud.
Six of seven board members voted to approve sending the statement on to the city commission; DeWitt abstained.
Staff members did answer some questions community members have posed about the fees; for instance, they said if people are enrolled in classes or activities, they would not have to pay to enter on top of the class they’d paid for. They would also not have to pay to watch their kids participate in league sports and the like, though they would have to pay spectator fees for tournaments that included them.
The city commission will meet at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday, July 15 at City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St. Commissioners will hold a work session on the proposed fees, but they are not being asked to take a vote on whether to approve them.
The commission accepts written public comment emailed to ccagendas@lawrenceks.org until noon the day of meetings. The commission also hears live public comment during meetings, both in person and virtually.
City commission meetings are no longer livestreamed on YouTube. In order to watch the meeting online remotely, attendees must join via Zoom at this link, which also allows participants to provide public comment. Meeting recordings are uploaded to the city’s YouTube channel the next day.
See the commission’s complete meeting agenda at this link.
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Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at mclark@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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