Durant City Council adopts updated fee schedule, consolidates parks and recreation charges
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Summary
The council approved Resolution R2025-01 to update city fees, consolidating Parks & Recreation charges and adding new one-day and specialty fees including a $250 one-day beverage garden permit and $35 RV pad rate.
The Durant City Council approved a resolution updating fees and costs charged by the city and the Durant City Utilities Authority, consolidating multiple Parks & Recreation schedules and adding new one-day and specialty fees.
The measure, identified in the meeting as R2025-01, centralizes prior department fee tables, creates a single parks-and-rec category for permits and facility rentals, and adjusts several user charges meant to cover operating and staffing costs.
Ryan, a city staff member, told the council he combined five separate fee schedules into one to make permitting and cost allocation clearer and to create a new parks-and-rec category that covers permits for vendors and special events. "That's where I have my permits, to allow vendors for special events like the sports festival coming up," Ryan said.
Key changes described by Ryan include:
- Facility rental: a flat $100 all-day fee for pavilions, ball fields and other park facility daily rentals to cover labor for cleaning and restroom maintenance.
- RV pads: an increase to $35 per night for renovated RV pads, with a modest longevity discount structure ($5–$10 off) for longer stays instead of the previous weekly/daily hybrid pricing.
- Beverage garden permit: a one-day permit fee of $250 for beer/ beverage gardens on city park grounds; Ryan said the permit is intended to direct vendor fee revenue to parks rather than the general fund.
- Recreation options: new single-game day fees for casual adult play (for example, one-game softball fees rather than only season passes), pool family membership adjusted from four people (previously three) for the base family price, and new short-term passes (three-day and monthly passes) and a lower-cost shared pool-party option that reduces the price by about $50 while covering additional lifeguard costs.
Ryan said sponsorship levels were lowered in some categories to encourage more participation and programming, and that employee discounts would be available for certain recreation amenities.
Council members asked clarifying questions about beverage garden duration and fee parity with other city permits; Ryan confirmed the $250 fee is for one-day events on park grounds and that the purpose was to route the fee revenue to parks. "If they are just doing it for a one-time deal and it is for an event that's on parks grounds, it's not one or the other — you're getting it with the city, but the funds get directed to parks," Ryan said.
A motion to approve item 4(a) passed on a roll-call vote with Council members Miller, Shear, Fuller, Vice Mayor Similescu and Mayor Martin Tucker voting yes.
The resolution will place the consolidated fee schedule into the city’s official fees and charges; the council did not specify an effective date during the discussion.
The administration said the changes are intended to cover costs that the department is currently absorbing and to provide clearer written policies for cancellations, sponsorships and single-event permits.
