Recreation fee plan isn't fair, critics say

Little League officials are rallying opposition to Oldsmar's proposal to charge non-residents a higher fee than residents for using city parks.

By ED QUIOCO

© St. Petersburg Times, published October 4, 2000

OLDSMAR -- A proposal to charge non-residents fees for using city parks is a month away from the City Council's consideration, but already the wheels of opposition are turning.

Alarmed by the city's proposal, Oldsmar Little League officials began this week to gear up to fight the plan. At a meeting Sunday night, the same day the St. Petersburg Times reported news of the proposal, league officials decided to send bus loads of Little Leaguers to the council meeting in November when the issue is expected to be discussed.

"It just seems that the only thing that our city manager and City Council members respond to is when there is an uproar," said Bill Schneider, former president and treasurer of the Oldsmar Little League. "We don't have any choice. This whole recreation fee thing is disturbing."

According to the plan, the city's Parks and Recreation Department would issue recreation cards and charge higher fees for recreation program participants who don't live in the city. Residents would be charged a $3 annual fee for the recreation card, and non-residents would be charged $50 a year.

Under the plan, non-residents who did not have a city recreation card would pay 50 percent more than residents for programs such as Jazzercise and arts and craft classes. The city also plans to offer a $10 family recreation card for residents and a $20 athletic season card for non-residents who participate in the baseball, football and soccer leagues.

Parks and Recreation director Lynn Rives said the plan would make non-residents pay their share for using city facilities such as the Canal Park sports complex on Tampa Road, where the leagues practice and play games.

About 40 percent to 60 percent of the players in the Little League, football and soccer leagues do not live in Oldsmar, according to city records.

"From my standpoint, it is evening the playing field and (is) something that is typical in surrounding cities," Rives said. "We are probably one of the last cities to implement it."

Some cities, such as Clearwater, already charge non-residents more for recreation cards.

Schneider said he fears that the new recreation fees will have a big impact on the league. Because Little League has a policy of accepting all players, even those who can't pay the fees, Schneider said the burden of paying the new fees could fall squarely on the league's shoulders.

"Our league will suffer because of this," Schneider said. "We find it to be outrageous."

Timothy Ackerman, who lives in East Lake Woodlands and has three sons in Little League, said the notion that non-residents have not paid their fair share because they use Canal Park and but don't pay city taxes is misleading.

Ackerman, a league board member, said Palm Harbor and East Lake residents have contributed a lot of time and money to Little League. The league has raised about $170,000 to give to the city to help pay for additional fields at the sports complex.

"There aren't that many Little Leagues that give ($170,000) to the city to build more fields," Ackerman said. "What is implied is that the non-residents have been getting a free ride, and it's far from that. We have a nice facility over there (in Canal Park), and it comes from the shared effort of the Little League and the city."

Joe Albanese, who lives in Oldsmar and has a son who plays in the Oldsmar Little League, said league parents and officials have spent money improving Canal Park. League volunteers have built a T-ball field, improved the batting cages and paid for nets to keep balls from hitting spectators.

"I live in Oldsmar, so I could take the position that it doesn't concern me, but it does," Albanese said. "As far as I'm concerned, the people of Palm Harbor and East Lake have already paid their dues and very handsomely."

Schneider said the league, which has about 750 players, depends on support and donations from the Palm Harbor and East Lake communities. He worries that the new fees may alienate those residents.

"If we didn't have these people, we wouldn't have a league," Schneider said. "Quite frankly, the new fees will put our league in jeopardy."

-- Staff writer Ed Quioco can be reached at (727) 445-4183 or at quioco@sptimes.com.

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