Mesa parks officials outline fee updates, pool heating charge shift and $1.5 million replacement contract

Mesa Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities Director Andrea Moore told the City Council during a study session that staff are proposing a set of updates to the department’s fees and charges and presented a separate procurement request for replacement parts and minor repairs.

Moore said the changes reflect comparisons with similar cities, rising staff costs and the department’s schedule to implement fees ahead of summer registration. "We are on a different cycle than the city's other fees and charges review because we implement our charges as of April 1 in advance of our summer registration for our camp programs and aquatics," Moore said.

The most notable fiscal changes Moore identified are an aquatics pool heating fee and increased field supervision fees. Moore described the aquatics charge as "a dollar 50 per lane per hour, and only during seasons when we have to turn the pool heat on." She estimated the pool-heat assessment will generate about $50,000 in revenue for the city, and said the fee is not new to user groups: it was previously charged to those organizations by Mesa Public Schools and is being shifted to the city now that the city manages the utility accounts for pools under a new intergovernmental agreement.

Moore said groups that rent pools…