City Could Limit Free Use Of Facilities

The city council has been happy to oblige nonprofit groups who ask for a waiver of the fees to use city facilities such as the Jerome Brown Community Center.

But with a tight budget getting tighter, the council is leaning toward a new policy that would set a cap at the amount of fees the city would waive each year.

At a budget workshop Tuesday, council members asked staff to come back with more specific numbers about how much it costs the city to support a host of events held at the Jerome Brown Community Center and other facilities and parks each year.

Council members indicated they'd be willing to support a cap system. The city would set a threshold for total fees waived each year and waivers for nonprofit groups would be doled out on a first-come, first-served basis.

The fee to use the hall at the Jerome Brown Center, for example, can run a nonprofit group $185.

It could be time to stop giving free passes altogether, Councilmember Joe Bernardini said.

Bernardini said he suspects the policy is costing the city more than $10,000 each year when factoring in other expenses such as staff time.

"We need to look at that total picture and see if we want to even waive fees," he said.

Councilmember Lara Bradburn said she would prefer to set a designated list of groups and events that "legitimately have a positive economic impact."

The council has already waived almost $2,000 in fees this fiscal year, according to a memo to the council from Norman-Vacha.