Editorial: Fun should not be this complicated

Friday, Jan. 23, 2004 | 5 a.m.

line Las Vegas Sun

WEEKEND EDITION

January 24 - 25, 2004

The city of Las Vegas has turned activities at city parks and community centers into an administrative nightmare. Last week the City Council approved basing its fees for participation in city sports leagues and leisure activities on a plan that tracks where participants live. Those who live in high-income areas will pay the most, those who live in middle-income areas will pay middling fees, and those who live in low-income areas will pay low fees.

Distinguishing between high and middle, and middle and low, and mapping it all out, will be very labor-intensive. Those who drafted the plan did foresee another of its basic flaws, however. Not all people who live within the so-called high- and middle-income areas, including many house renters and apartment dwellers, have high or even middle-class incomes. So the plan allows individuals to apply for waivers if they can prove their income does not justify paying the higher fees. This will affect thousands of people, who will have to have their incomes checked against the average income of their neighborhood in order to qualify for a reduced fee. The time and paperwork involved for the city, not to mention the loss of privacy for the individuals, will be enormous. In our view, the city has created an unnecessarily complicated fee system for the simple act of playing a little ball or taking a fitness class.

All of this began when the city decided it had to raise fees in order to cover increased costs of running the programs. But it didn't want children and adults of low-income families to be priced out of all the positive activities. So far, so good. We agree that city parks and community centers, and the organized activities that go with them, provide terrific opportunities that should be available to everyone -- especially to those from lower-income families who likely have few other recreational options. But why must we have a parks program that turns something fun into something akin to doing your income taxes?

Those who live in affluent and middle-class neighborhoods are already paying more toward city activities through their higher property taxes. That's where their individualized extra payments for public activities should end. A less complicated system for recouping activity costs, one that would not subject thousands of people to individual income auditing by the city, would be based on a flat fee for all areas of the city. The fee should be high enough so that discounts could be automatically applied at parks and community centers in low-income areas. Low-income families living in middle-class areas should also be eligible for discounts through an unobtrusive application process.

The bottom line is that enjoying a public parks activity should not be a complicated, invasive process that conspicuously divides people according to presumed social classes.