Parks advisory committee reviews FY‑26 budget proposals and citywide fee study

The Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee heard a presentation on July 15, 2025, about proposed Parks and Recreation revenue, personnel changes and a citywide fee study that will review program, membership and permit rates. The department told the committee the city is conducting a fee study covering memberships, classes, summer camps, after‑school programs and aquatics; staff said the study could change permit and program fees and will inform future policy recommendations to the commission. Committee members asked how the reduced personnel and facility outages would affect services, especially gym and fitness offerings, and sought detail on donation and rental revenue assumptions. Mandy, staff member, told the committee, "We are doing a fee study right now for all of our fees. So everything, our memberships, our classes, our summer camps, our after school programs, our aquatics classes, everything is undergoing the fee study." That study, Mandy said, will be discussed with the committee when staff requests advisory input on subsidy levels and priorities. The presentation listed several FY‑26 revenue projections and program line items stated by staff: staff‑led program revenue projected about $192,000; special event permit revenue $12,004.11; pool admissions about $39,000; pool staff‑led instruction about $6,000; instructor fees about $19,000; and community center rentals projected at $50,000. Staff retained two donation figures that had appeared in prior budgets — $70,000 and $30,000 — and said those historically reflected community sponsorships and summer‑camp support but that the community club’s future role was "to be determined." Staff also presented a proposed reduction in the Recreation and Aquatics personnel budget: the prior year figure shown in the presentation was $1,700,000 and proposed FY‑26 was listed at $1,100,000. Staff said the cut reflected an organizational change and that the department would reallocate programming across available facilities while one gym and the fitness room remain closed for repairs. "We are down a fitness room, we're down a gymnasium that limits our pickleball capabilities, it limits our basketball league, it limits our after school capabilities as far as the location," Mandy said. Committee members asked where insurance and fleet costs appear in the budget. Staff explained those line items were moved into centralized budgets (finance, IT, fleet) and therefore do not appear under the parks presentation. A committee member asked about the citywide budget scale; staff said the 2025 city budget was "a little shy of $32,000,000" and that the department’s presented figures include multiple revenue sources across programs. Discussion only: committee members and staff discussed likely near‑term impacts on leagues, fitness memberships and after‑school programming; staff said they plan to restore some offerings (senior excursions, lunch‑and‑learns) and to use alternate locations such as Warren Webster for classes and summer camp while repairs continue. No formal recommendation or vote on the fee study or FY‑26 budget was taken at the meeting. The committee asked staff to provide future briefings and to flag when staff will seek formal advice or a recommendation on fee‑setting and subsidy policy. Staff said it will notify the committee when the rate‑study vendor is ready to request advisory input and recommended continuing twice‑yearly committee meetings (May and November) with ad‑hoc meetings as needed for substantive policy conversations.