Bid to raise park fees gets some flak

By Joe Schoenmann

Sunday, Dec. 19, 2010 | 2:01 a.m.

Parks are a great place to burn a steak, laze about or run wild, especially during a recession when money’s tight and free or cheap entertainment is in demand.

The price of this low-cost alternative might be going up. The county’s Parks and Recreation Department has put in an order to raise some park-use fees.

Is anyone acting on the order?

That remains to be seen. The Clark County Commission will consider it Tuesday.

Here are a few of the suggested fee changes: A league permit for youth soccer or other field use was $80 per team per season, with or without lights. The new rate is $40 with no lights (a 50 percent drop) but $125 with lights (a 56 percent increase). For adult community league permits, the current rate is $160 per team with or without lights; the new rate is $120 per team with no lights (a 25 percent drop) or $205 with lights (a 28 percent increase).

Commissioner Steve Sisolak, whose District A includes one of the largest and most-used parks, Sunset Park, says the new fees would result mostly in increases because many leagues play at night.

“I think unless they can justify to me that it’s only recouping costs — which I don’t believe, because there hasn’t been a 56 percent increase in energy rates — I just think that it’s wrong,” he said. “This isn’t a time to be raising fees ... The parks system isn’t supposed to be a for-profit business.”

A draft copy of the Fees and Charges Schedule includes another interesting change. Where it describes the purpose of fees, the words “for the benefit of the public” have been crossed out.

Sisolak said the wording fits with what Parks & Rec is proposing, “because raising fees is absolutely not for the benefit of the public.”

Also removed from the draft is any mention that fees would be used to support the Clark County Shooting Park. Parks Director Jane Pike said the change was made because the board won’t consider changes to shooting park fees until next year.

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Speaking of the shooting park, how is it doing after a full year of operation?

Pike provided the Sun with one year’s figures. The first phase of the 148-acre facility was built with $64 million from the federal government through the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act. The money comes from the sale of Bureau of Land Management land. But the law does not provide funding for operations. That’s up to the county.

And those figures, please?

Right. We’re going to go back to the beginning, back to when the park at the foot of the Sheep Mountain Range was an infant, back to July 2009. Since then and through Oct. 31, the park has taken in $629,243. Meanwhile, expenses have totaled $1,726,709.

That’s a loss of $1,097,466.

The deficit has been covered by the county’s general fund and from money that had been in the Parks Department’s program activity fund. Parks officials said there is no connection between the deficit at the shooting park and the proposed increases in other parks fees.

Pike said the losses are expected for at least the first three years of the gun park’s operation. But to help turn things around, the Parks Department hired a marketing consultant, The Idea Factory, at a cost not to exceed $3,500 per month. The consultant has created designs for new banners and T-shirts. The consultant has also completed research of the park’s history, its marketing plans, and drafted a research report to target customers locally, regionally and nationally.

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So Commission Chairman Rory Reid completes his term early next month. Any idea who will be the commission’s next chairman or chairwoman?

Yep. Either Chris Giunchigliani or Susan Brager.

It sounds like Brager has the support of Larry Brown and Steve Sisolak. Mary Beth Scow is considered to be on Brager’s side because she was a colleague of Brager’s on the School Board. Commissioners only need to know how to count to four, and provided Brager votes for herself it appears she would have the votes to win.