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HomeMy WebLinkAboutInformation Update 0125221 AGENDA INFORMATION UPDATE January 25, 2022 5:00 PM, I.INFORMATION UPDATE I.A.Recreation Fees Update 1 1 INFORMATION ONLY MEMORANDUM TO:Mayor and City Council FROM:Cory Vander Veen, Recreation Director THROUGH:Austin Weiss, Director of Parks and Recreation Diane Foster, Assistant City Manager MEMO DATE: January 18 th, 2022 MEETING DATE: January 25 th, 2022 RE:Recreation fees update SUMMARY:The City of Aspen Recreation Department is updating City Council and the community on the status of the Recreation fees for 2022. The department is implementing a significant increase in many of its fees to align with Recreation’s multi-year recovery back to subsidy goals. Unfortunately, with the current COVID conditions, the cost recovery models are not what they used to be pre-pandemic, putting a strain on revenues and expenses. With COVID still very much impacting the Recreation Department we are having to be flexible on how services are provided to the users and how appropriate fees are needed to reflect those services. BACKGROUND HISTORY:Recreation is funded with sales tax dollars through the general fund. The department receives its revenue from three main areas: memberships, rentals, and programs. The Recreation Department uses the business plan that was adopted by the ARC Advisory Committee and City Council in 2015 as the guide to recovery models for each program. The three program types are core, important, and value-added programs that have associated cost recovery and resource allocations to help deliver levels of services to the community. The department has sunset some programs and will continue to evaluate the three buckets throughout this year to follow this roadmap back to the subsidy goals. DISCUSSION: All recreation fees went into effect on January 1, 2022. All recreation membership (1 month, 3 months, 6 months, annual) options are available for any users whether they are non-resident or residents. Regularly our department does price comparisons of local valley and statewide facilities to focus on keeping our membership fees as low as we can for the local community, while balancing the subsidy goals for the department. In 2022, an adult annual recreation membership is $599 which is $50 per month. . That means users who come twice a week to our facilities will break even with the membership compared to purchasing daily admissions each time making this membership very affordable to all users. The membership offers fitness classes, ice skating, rock climbing, an indoor swimming pool, a weight room, and a cardio room. This annual membership was $552 in 2021 before this years fee increases. 2 2 For comparison, Snowmass recreation center is- $65 per month, after the initial payment of $125 due at registration for an adult monthly membership. Glenwood recreation center's annual membership is $535 which is $45 per month.Glenwood offers non resident and resident drop in rate of 9$ for resident and 11$ for non-resident. We have a local daily admission and an all-inclusive guest rate for youth, adults, and seniors. The department will be shifting how we define the local daily admission rate moving forward. We are shifting the terms of this rate by defining locals to be those who reside within the urban growth boundary including the AABC addresses. This is consistent with offerings at local recreation centers like Glenwood Springs recreation center. The City of Aspen Recreation daily locals rate will be given to users with a valid driver's license showing proof of residency. The emphasis for the Department in 2022 is to drive users to our affordable memberships. We now offer reoccurring monthly credit card transactions for patrons that want smaller monthly membership payments versus having to pay the entire membership in one transaction making memberships even more affordable. Some examples of the flexibility on services and fees is the newest monthly membership for figure skating starting this month is $60 per month and includes a minimum of 6 hours of figure skating ice time, which is another affordable membership. The Recreation Department has been evlauting programs and the sailing program will be sunset this year due to program workbook analyses, subsidy goals, and available resources. The sailing program operates at Ruedi Reservoir and our department will work with the yatch club to help them offer the program for the future. FINANCIAL IMPACT: These fees provide the Recreation Department with the funding to help subsidize the programs, facilities, and events that the community loves and expects. Our departments main goal is to increase fees for multiple years to return to the 50% subsidy. All memberships and daily fees will see up to a 9% increase for 2022. Many other programs will see smaller increases like day camp and swim lessons going up 3%. For a complete list of all 2022 fees see exhibit A. The Recreation Department also has income-based scholarships available that users can apply for. 3 3 Appenix A 4 4 5 5 6