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Letter to the editor

City might outsource pools

Rather than close recreation facilities, leaders are considering third-party control.

By MIKE DONILA
Published June 19, 2007

CLEARWATER - With state-mandated property tax cuts looming, city leaders are contemplating a different idea for the city's signature recreation facilities and swimming pools:

Turn them over to a third party to run, even if it may mean users would have fewer options and would pay higher fees.

In doing so, Clearwater would join a growing list of communities that have outsourced leisure services to save money. The trend began about 20 years ago with the outsourcing of some services at national parks.

Without some savings, city leaders said, they'll be forced to shutter some facilities.

"We're trying to be creative and find ways to save money and still maintain the quality of life, " Mayor Frank Hibbard said.

Clearwater will take in roughly $3.7-million less in property taxes next year under a tax relief plan state lawmakers approved last week. The city's six major recreation centers cost the city $2.7-million more annually than they collect in user fees.

Already, Clearwater leaders have said they're prepared to close the recreation centers in Morningside and on the beach, but they're willing to keep them open if someone else - like a nonprofit organization or a neighborhood association - can take over.

But such an option raises far more questions than there are answers for, so far. Leaders haven't set a goal for cost savings under the plan, nor established what the city would require of vendors. The council is expected to consider the idea in mid July.

Currently, Clearwater's parks and recreation system has 240 employees. It maintains or contracts vendors for 700 pieces of property, including 1, 500 acres of parkland, 37 neighborhood parks, 60 ballfields and six major recreation centers, pools and the Moccasin Lake Nature Park. It is also responsible for lands along Memorial Causeway and much of Clearwater Beach's shoreline.

But the recreation centers are the department's core service centers. The city this year sold more than 17, 000 yearlong recreation passes for unlimited access, and the centers had more than 2.3-million visits in the past year.

The city has tinkered with privatization before, turning the operation of four small facilities over to nonprofit groups such as the Boys and Girls Club and saving $500, 000 annually.

But never before has it contemplated taking this approach with a recreation center, where activities can include basketball leagues, yoga classes, swim lessons and summer camps.

"The recreation centers have long been considered the fabric of the community, " says Parks and Recreation Department director Kevin Dunbar. And they're credited with doing more than providing physical activity: They get teens in touch with strong mentors, bring families closer, increase property values and reduce crime, he said.

It's not clear if there is anyone - like a nonprofit organization or a for-profit fitness operator - that is interested in taking over a facility or two. Nor is it clear if city employees who work at the centers would be retained by the new operator, much less what they would be paid.

City leaders say they would require any vendors assuming operations of centers to keep some core services, including assurances that any city resident will be allowed to use the facility without discrimination. The city would serve strictly as a landlord but would provide liability insurance coverage.

But they acknowledge that up to 80 full-time positions could be cut, recreation fees could increase and services could be reduced.

"I think residents would see some difference - they'd have to, " Hibbard said. "If someone can do this for less than us, then they'd be increasing the fees for which they do it and they'd probably provide a lower level of service."

That doesn't mean, however, that the services won't be good, Dunbar stressed. There just might not be as many.

* * *

It isn't unusual to contract out parks and recreation operations, said Stephen Holland, a University of Florida associate professor of park planning and coastal recreation. Decreasing budgets in recent years have forced local governments to take the same route taken by the federal parks service two decades ago.

"It's a reasonable option to explore ... and it's better than closing the site and not operating at all, " Holland said. "It's a compromise and still allows you to provide some services."

Mike Donila can be reached at mdonila@sptimes.com or 445-4160.

Recreation costs

[Last modified June 18, 2007, 22:58:37]