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Riverbank council adopts updated parks and recreation fee schedule
Summary
The City of Riverbank adopted a revised fee schedule for parks, recreation programs, events and facility rentals after a presentation from Parks & Recreation Director Michael Patton. The update adds deposits, raises several nonresident and vendor fees, and creates a simplified hourly community-center rate; the resolution passed 5-0.
Michael Patton, Riverbank’s director of parks and recreation, presented a comprehensive update to the department’s fee schedule and asked the council to adopt the changes to improve financial sustainability and simplify pricing. "We are here to seek approval from the city council to update our fee schedule for the parks and recreation department," Patton said, citing a recent financial sustainability study showing the department currently recovers about 60% of costs.
The proposed changes include formalizing refundable deposits for facility rentals (generally $100), increasing some nonresident rates at Jacob Myers Park (for example, nonresident day fees from $10 to $12 and some pavilion fees from $250 to $300), introducing a small veteran/first-responder discount for daily park entry, setting a new $200 day-use fee for McRitchie Campground (with nonprofits continuing at $50), and adding a $35 special-event permit to the fee schedule. Patton said raising the Jacob Myers nonresident day fee to $12 would have yielded roughly $19,000 in the prior year to help cover maintenance costs.
For facility rentals, the council approved replacing complex all-day pricing with an hourly model (proposed $150/hour resident; $200/hour nonresident) to make the community center more accessible for partial-day events. Staff also proposed new hourly and deposit amounts for Scout Hall, gym and sports-complex uses, and a $25 bounce-house permit that remains unchanged. The presentation included a proposal to add late fees for special-event permit applications submitted with less than the recommended lead time.
Council members sought clarification on signage and enforcement at Jacob Myers Park, sponsorship tiers for large events such as the Chees e and Wine festival, and whether hourly community-center pricing would have a minimum. Patton said signage and drop boxes at Jacob Myers exist and that the hourly model was intended to increase accessibility for smaller events.
The council opened and closed the public hearing on the item with no public speakers on the fee schedule itself. Council moved and approved the resolution adopting the new fee schedule by roll call vote 5-0. The resolution will be implemented as described in staff’s presentation; staff said additional individual program fees created later would be returned to council as part of future fee-schedule updates or the normal budget cycle.
