Fair committee approves rental and camping fee recommendations, forwards them to county

The Clallam County Fairgrounds Committee voted to accept a package of recommended rental and camping fees and forward the recommendations to county administrators and the finance department for consideration in the county budget process.

Committee members said the recommendation package is based on historic rental-use data and a new effort by staff to calculate direct expenses for each building and event. Aspen, fair office staff, told the committee staff are tracking costs per rental and organizing a historic usage spreadsheet so future price changes can be tied to actual operating costs rather than routine annual increases.

Why it matters: The committee’s recommendations will inform the county administrator’s proposed budget and the commissioners’ public review later this year. Committee members said keeping rates steady for underused buildings is intended to encourage rentals, while raising rates where usage and costs justify it helps cover direct expenses.

Discussion and details: Members said several buildings have not been rented in recent years; the committee reasoned that raising prices for rarely used facilities is unlikely to increase revenue or bookings. Aspen said the office expects to provide detailed historical use and cost data to the committee before finalizing the recommendation packet.

Members also debated whether to tie future adjustments to the consumer price index or to make a single adjustment now and wait multiple years before another increase. One committee member described the adopted approach as “a sufficient amount of money that is actually ahead of the CPI,” while noting that infrequent, larger adjustments draw less public attention than small annual changes.

The package also included clarifications about superintendent camping stipends: superintendents are eligible for one discounted camping site per barn, and assistant superintendents are not automatically eligible for a second discounted site. Committee members asked staff to clarify how the policy applies when a superintendent oversees multiple species or shared stalls.

Formal action: A motion to accept the committee’s recommendations as presented (with one amendment) was made and adopted by voice vote. The minutes record the motion passed; no roll-call tally was recorded in the transcript.

What’s next: Staff will produce a clean draft of the fee schedule and the supporting data and forward it to the county administrator and finance for inclusion in the recommended budget. The committee was told the parks, fair and facilities staff will meet with the commissioners and finance the next day to review the administrator’s recommended budget, and the final budget is typically adopted in December.

Quotes: "We will sit down as soon as we can with the county administrator and, at his discretion, finance, and we'll go through your recommendations," a staff member said, describing the county review process.

Ending: The committee directed staff to continue collecting historic rental and expense data and to deliver a clean fee schedule for county review. The item will be monitored during the county budget process and revisited by the committee as needed.