North Port delays citywide fee changes; Warm Mineral Springs pass discounts to phase down

The North Port City Commission on July 8 continued first reading of an ordinance to update the city's Appendix A fee schedule, including changes to development, police, parks and recreation, solid waste and utilities fees, and asked staff to incorporate a new Sarasota County resident rate and a phased three-year pass-discount plan for Warm Mineral Springs into the ordinance's second reading on July 22.

City Manager Fletcher told commissioners the fee update was based on a third-party comprehensive user-fee study by Willdan Financial Services that identifies the full cost of providing services, including overhead, direct and indirect costs. "The charges that we pass along are not designed to be 100% recoverable for the fees that we charge," Fletcher said, adding the goal is to reduce the burden on the city's finances while aligning fees with market comparables.

Parks and Recreation Director Sandy Funheller outlined proposed changes for Warm Mineral Springs, proposing to keep daily admission steady while reducing the discounts on 10- and 30-visit passes and phasing out the annual pass, which has not sold since the city assumed operations. Funheller said the proposed three-year phase plan would generate an estimated $514,000 in additional revenue over three years based on current attendance levels, funds the city expects to reinvest in infrastructure and capital needs at the Springs. She said FY24 revenues at the Springs were about $1.5 million, expenses about $1.2 million, and that the facility showed roughly 127,000 visits last year with an average daily operating cost of $34.85.

Commissioners asked for more detail before final approval. Commissioner Barbara Langdon asked whether the attendance number represented unique visitors or total visits; staff said the admissions data counts visits and that passes and admissions data show about 49,000 paid individual admissions last year and 77 pass holders. Langdon also asked whether the city benchmarks fees against peer municipalities; Fletcher replied comparables are a main factor in the consultant's analysis.

Commissioners also raised the policy question of how much cost recovery the city should seek from fees. Fletcher said goals vary by department and the consultant adjusted rates to reflect market rates. Commissioners pressed staff on how the projected additional revenue would hold up to rising costs; Funheller said the phase plan is intended to reach a sustainable level by the time new buildings at the Springs open and that annual rate proposals will still come back through the ordinance process.

On a motion by Commissioner Langdon, seconded by Vice Mayor Emmerich, the commission voted to continue Ordinance 2025-14 to a second reading on July 22, 2025, directing staff to incorporate the proposed Sarasota County resident rate and the 2026'28 rate and discount schedule into the ordinance. The motion passed 5-0.

The first-reading action also included the city clerk's reading of the ordinance title and the managers'presentation of the fee study; commissioners said they wanted a follow-up report with unique-visitor counts and annual admission and pass breakdowns before second reading.

The commission also approved related procedural motions to read other ordinances by title and to continue several other budget and code items to the July 22 meeting.

These fee changes affect a wide range of city services; staff said multi-year adjustments are intended to balance affordability with the city's need to cover operations and to build reserves for capital work at Warm Mineral Springs.