City raising nonresident park use fees

Published 5:52 am Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Recreation fees for people who don’t live in the city of Mill Creek will be bumped up 15 percent this fall as the result of a City Council vote Tuesday, July 8.

All participants in the city’s recreation classes currently pay the same amount. Other cities in the area, including Mountlake Terrace and Lynnwood, charge nonresidents higher fees for classes and other recreational activities.

The higher fees for people who don’t live in the city “are common, certainly as a way to recognize the contribution that the city’s taxpayers have already made, not only to the recreation programs, but to the facilities that they’re held in,” city manager Bob Stowe said.

About 60 percent of the people who participated in fall programs last year don’t live in Mill Creek, Stowe said.

Using participation rates from last fall, the bump in fees could bring in about $9,000 more in the fall season alone. Projections weren’t immediately available for other parts of the year.

But the fee increase isn’t necessarily a boon for the recreation department. The city’s policy is to try recoup 80 percent of what it costs to provide all recreation programs, Stowe said.

The individual programs that do make money subsidize the ones that don’t, including certain youth programs that charge little or nothing, Stowe said.

Lynn Devoir, Mill Creek’s recreation supervisor, said the city’s fees are in line with others in the area.

The City Council on July 8 also took its first look at the proposed reservation and fee policies for the city’s new sports park. Some adjustments will be made, and the policies will come back before the City Council before the end of the month.

The new 5-acre Mill Creek Sports Park, which is under construction at Trillium Boulevard and the Bothell-Everett Highway, is scheduled to open Sept. 1.

Victor Balta is a reporter for The Herald in Everett.