City Council Minutes 2018 10 04 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Meeting Minutes October 4, 2018 Page 9 of 10 Fees are benchmarked against surrounding competing facilities. The Finance Committee of the Recreation Advisory Board has reviewed these as has the Council Finance Committee. Mayor Pro Tem Lipton stated these proposals are lower than the Greenplay report. We are starting at a deficit. Our competition is going to be the YMCA and private facilities that are much more expensive. He was not sure we are being aggressive enough. Council members discussed whether the proposed fees should be higher and how to make it equitable for tax payers as well as competitive. What rates would have to be used to keep the subsidy down to an acceptable level and what higher rates might do to membership. Councilmember Stolzmann asked to see different scenarios with increases in rates as well as comparisons to surrounding facilities. How sensitive are users going to be to price increases. Superintendent Martin noted the advisory board felt this was a reasonable rate increase and the fees need to be continually evaluated instead of such long periods of time between increases. Councilmember Maloney expressed caution concerning the context and timeframe in which the advisory board looked at these numbers. Councilmember Stolzmann noted this is the time for a larger increase. Councilmember Keany stated we should be cautious about being too aggressive with rate increases as that is part of how the sales tax was passed. Mayor Pro Tem Lipton stated those who use it should pay more than those who don't. From a competition perspective we need to be strategic and geographic, we want to get the residents from Superior back. Mayor Pro Tem Lipton stated the larger percentage increases are for resident rates, which may be hard to justify to residents. Martin noted the non-resident rate has been increased more often than residents. Those non-resident fee increases did not significantly affect usage. City Manager Balser noted staff will bring back a new proposal with different scenarios and comparisons. Mayor Pro Tem Lipton asked for more on the philosophy of setting these prices. PAVEMENT MANAGEMENT Director Kowar stated pavement is averaging $4.4M per year. Concrete averages about 40% of total cost. Kowar reviewed the various scenarios and proposed to stay at 4.4M.