City Commissioners unanimously voted during their March 19 meeting to set new fees for the Great Falls Park and Recreation department, including those for the new aquatic and recreation center set to open in June in Lions Park.
The new fee resolution replaces four existing resolutions related to Park and Rec fees: one for community recreation center fees, which were last updated in 2019; park rental and special event fees that were last updated in 2006; swimming pool fees that were last updated in 2014 and multi sports fees that were last updated in 2016.
The new structure also introduces a new nonresident fee for the new aquatic center.
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Staff said they’ve looked at current fees, conducted fee comparisons, used the pro forma from their consultant and looked at several cost recovery models to develop the fees to provide services and programs while minimizing the impact on the general fund.
Staff first presented their proposed fee structure during the commission’s March 5 meeting.
The new city aquatic center is funded with $10 million from a U.S. Defense Department grant and a $10 million match from the city.
City staff said the facility will likely need two to three years of operation to stabilize its budget.
Staff said that since developing the pro forma, there were a number of changes in wages, utility costs and inflation. They worked with their consultant in November to update numbers on best estimates, but rising costs have been a challenge.
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The city has identified key positions it needs to fill to open the facility, but have combined or cut some other positions to cut expenses.
Park and Rec will review the facility budget monthly for the first year of operation to monitor and address any budget concerns, and may need to adjust the facility fees, according to staff.
During the March 5 commission work session, Park and Rec Director Steve Herrig discussed the proposed fees.
Herrig said several pots of money are being used to open the new aquatic center and that they have some fundraising dollars, but some of those are pledged over the next few years and not necessarily immediately available.
He said that they’re looking at about a remaining $375,000 in startup costs, such as furniture, security cameras, scoreboards in the gym, concession equipment and startup IT equipment.
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Herrig told commissioners that for the fiscal year budget, which runs July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025, they’re showing a $200,000 deficit for the new aquatics facility.
He said the department intends to cover that through the recreation budget and not ask for additional general fund support.
He said that he expects they’ll make budget adjustments in the first year as they settle into facility and adjust operational needs.
Herrig said they’re on track to get into the building in mid-May and spend about a month training staff and getting them familiar with the new facility.
They’re targeting a June 15 public opening, Herrig said.
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The new facility will replace the now demolished Natatorium and the existing Community Recreation Center, combining those facilities and programs into the new space in Lions Park.
Once the new facility opens, Herrig said city programs will shut down in the Rec Center around May.
The city will continue to own the building and has leased space to a daycare facility that has plans to expand within the building.
City Manager Greg Doyon has said throughout the development of the new aquatic facility that he would recommend closing of the existing Rec Center and either leasing or selling the building.
Herrig said staff has been talking to a commercial real estate agent and did a walk through of the building recently to determine the type of lease to operate the building with some revenue for the city to cover maintenance costs or whether they should sell the building outright.
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Looking over the proposed fees during the March 5 work session, Commissioner Rick Tryon said “nothing I see here that would be a concern.”
Herrig said during the commission’s March 19 meeting that the city will start selling membership to the new aquatic center on March 25 as staff is finalizing their software system.
Herrig said that those paying for memberships online using a credit card will be charged a three percent processing fee to cover the city’s costs.
Herrig told commissioners that they’d received emails over the last few days that he believes were derived from a fitness instructor who misunderstood the proposed fees and instead of talking to staff for clarification, got her class spun up to email commissioners.
To address the questions raised in those emails, Herrig told commissioners again that there would be a fee for military members using the facility.
He said the federal grant through the U.S. Defense Department paid for nearly half of the construction cost, but that it was never the city’s intention that the military would have free access, which was discussed with the federal agency from the beginning of the grant process.
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Herrig said the emails to commissioners raised questions of fitness area or fitness classes only passes.
He said those would take more monitoring and more staff, so those aren’t included as the facility opens, but the city has the ability to expand passes in the future.
For now, fitness classes are included with the general memberships at the aquatics and recreation center, Herrig told commissioners.
The city already offers Silver Sneakers and Silver and Fit options for seniors, in which their insurance pays $30 toward the membership rate, a number that was negotiated about five years ago.
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Since the senior rate approved by commissioners for seniors at the new facility is $40, he said there could be some gaps that insurance doesn’t cover, but the city will be able to negotiate those senior rates with insurance companies again in 2025 and will try to close those gaps, Herrig said.
Herrig said they’re anticipating that the proposed fees may not cover the facility’s full operating costs during the first few years it’s open, something they discussed with commissioners during their March 5 work session, so they may need to make adjustments as they get settled into the facility and the budget stabilizes.
Park and Rec officials are planning to offer a scholarship program to help keep membership affordable for those who need it, but Herrig said the dollars set aside for that from a donor will go quickly so they’re looking for an ongoing funding source.
“We know there’s a need,” Herrig told commissioners.
Commissioner Rick Tryon told Herrig, “you’ve done your homework.”
There was no public comment on the new fees.
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Commissioner Joe McKenney shared his observation that there’s a difference between the private and public sectors.
He said he wanted to bring cross marketing to Herrig’s attention for some sort of arrangement with discounts for Scheels, which donated $1 million for naming rights of the new facility, for the city facility sending customers their way.
McKenney asked staff if that was an option, to which City Manager Greg Doyon said, “it sounds completely illegal to me.”
Tryon said he’d vote for the fees, but asked that staff consider a fitness area or fitness classes only membership in the future.
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He said fees needed to be considered broadly as sometimes the reason public safety goes underappreciated in the budget is because the city is funding other departments, such as Park and Rec.
“This is a necessary step,” Tryon said, “to reduce the amount of subsidy to other departments.”
In response to the emails they received about the fees, Tryon said that sometimes one or two people get others stirred up about an issue and it’s obvious when they all say the same thing, “so you know they’re being coached and they’re being stirred up a little bit. It’s not like the pitch forks and torches are coming out about the prices here.”
The approved fees are:
