2002-05-15 (budget) - Laserfiche WebLink

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Session 1841 May 15, 2002 We are among the highest that charge. Our resident rates are extremely Iow and he believes we should keep them that way. No other changes are recommended. RECREATION - 35.30: Any new programs are brought to the Council in December so proper planning for resources can occur before the budget is put together. This budget for recreation already carries out what the Council approved this past December. There are few more slots with the summer camp, a few other increases here and there. The Council back in the late eighties and early nineties made it their number one priority to drastically increase our recreation programs, especially for young ones. We have probably quadrupled our programs in a five or six year period. He believes that we have one of the outstanding city sponsored recreation programs anywhere. Last year we added a few items for the middle school and high school kids and he knows that the Council wants staff to continue looking at this area. Responding to Mr. Lieberman, Mr. Ollendorff responded that 732.06, Food is for snacks for the kids in the summer playground and after school programs. COMMUNITY CENTER - 35.40: The community center is becoming increasingly more costly and is the City's biggest money loser. He has tried about all he can to increase rentals to get more use out of the facility. Responding to Mr. Lieberman, Mr. Ollendorff said that as the center gets older, more and more work needs to be done to it. He was told that we needed to budget $60,000 to replace the roof. He is only budgeting a portion of that cost. The whole parking lot needs to be rebuilt, and he is also only budgeting a small part of that cost. He proposes that this be studied for a year to determine the ultimate state of this facility. He said that there is several alternatives, one to demolish it and turn it back into park land and add a few meeting rooms to the recreation facility for neighborhood groups that want to meet. The third alternative is to determine if their might be some other city use for that property. Another alternative would be to consider selling it. Maybe a combination of these might work. We are bringing in $40,000 - $50,000 of revenue and $200,000 just to operate it. This would be a good goal for him when the Council sets goals in a month. Mr. Sharpe wondered if we could consider decreasing the fees to try to encourage more use. Mr. Ollendorff said that different fee structures have been tried over the years to no real benefit and the only heavy rent use is on a Friday or Saturday night. Mr. Wagner didn't believe that it could be sold because it was considered park land. Mr. Ollendorff said that this facility was exempted, along with the leaf mulch area and the Green house in the charter agreement and yes, could be sold.