Consultant recommends higher nonresident fees, new event charge in St. Pete Beach parks fee study

A consultant presented a comprehensive parks and recreation operating fee study to the City of St. Pete Beach on the scope, benchmarking and revenue implications of proposed fee changes.

The presenter said the study was "to align [municipal] operating fees with the true cost of public services" and that staff had prioritized parks and recreation and community development fees for evaluation. The consultant noted the community development portion of the work is paused because of recent action by the Florida state legislature and will be revisited in the coming months.

Using data from 2020–2025 and budget figures escalated from the 2026 budget, the consultant grouped parks and recreation fees into seven service areas — pool fees, recreation programs, camp, gym, facility rentals, special events and beach weddings — and allocated department expenses to calculate current cost recovery by category. The presenter summarized the cost‑recovery framework: Tier 1 amenities (parks, trails) remain primarily tax‑funded; Tier 2 (mixed‑benefit programs such as youth sports and camps) target roughly 70% recovery; and Tier 3 services (individual benefit items like facility rentals and adult leagues) target 100% recovery.

As an illustrative example, the consultant said some line items would require very large increases to reach full cost recovery, noting that certain private swim lessons "would need a 590% increase." The presenter emphasized that large jumps could be phased: options include reaching full cost recovery in a single year, spreading increases over three years to reduce "sticker shock," applying benchmarking caps, or applying targeted overrides.

On residency pricing, the consultant recommended keeping resident rates largely protected and applying a modest inflation index (3.1% annually). Nonresident rates would be increased more substantially, with the option to either move toward full cost recovery for specific categories or to subject nonresident rates to the same annual inflation index. The study also recommended a new fee tier for largely attended special events, consolidation of multiple swim‑lane rental entries into standardized 30‑minute and 60‑minute rates, and removal of fees for programs no longer offered.

The report used the available attendance and budget records to model revenue, and the presenter cautioned that some recreation programs lacked attendance detail and that aquatics expenses were only separated as a budget line in 2025. Relying on this data, the consultant projected that the recommended package would lift overall parks cost recovery from "about a 29% into about a 47%."

The presenter offered to provide more detailed modeling and confirmed projections were escalated from the 2026 budget figures; staff follow‑up was invited for specific line‑by‑line questions. The consultant said the community development fee recommendations would return after staff align the analysis with recent state legislative changes.