Saratoga News

Belt-tightening plays itself out on youth sports' playing fields

AYSO, Little League protest a proposed increase in fees

Per-child formula suggested

By Sarah Lombardo

Things are heating up between the Saratoga Little League, the American Youth Soccer Organization and the city--and it's not on the playing fields.

But it is about the playing fields. The city wants to change how the youth sports organizations pay for their use of the fields at Congress Springs Park.

Currently, the groups pay the city a $1,500 flat fee for exclusive use of the fields for their seasons. For the Little Leaguers, that came out to about $3 per child; for AYSO, it was about $1 per child. But now the city wants to charge the groups on a per-child basis and to increase the amount to $12 per child this year and $15 per child next year.

It's a move city officials say is necessary to maintain the fields at Congress Springs Park--and future fields--in light of the city's tightened belt in the wake of the 1996 loss of the utility-users tax.

But officials for both leagues say it's too much and that the city is trying to raise money through the city's children.

"You're trying to raise money on the backs of these children," Larry Fine, regional commissioner for Saratoga AYSO, told the Parks and Recreation Commission April 13. "Let's all be reasonable and remember that this is for the kids."

The commission voted to recommend to the City Council that an agreement with the sports groups for $12 per child for the first year be implemented and that a new project manager--in the process of being hired--negotiate an agreement for future years. The issue was scheduled to come before the council April 21.

Fine pointed out that the increase represents a jump from the $1,500 fee to more than $14,000 for AYSO. In addition, Fine said AYSO already paid the city for this year's season with a check for $1,500 that was cashed last November. City staffers admitted the check was cashed but said it doesn't preclude the city's requiring more under a new contract.

Saratoga recreation director Joan Pisani was instructed by the City Council last year to look into renegotiating the contracts with Little League, which expired in March, and AYSO, which will expire in May, to help cover the costs of maintaining the playing fields. Pisani and Saratoga Little League president Susie Dymoke had reached a verbal agreement in recent weeks for the increase, on the condition that certain improvements be made to Congress Springs Park. AYSO, however, didn't like the agreement, claiming it was too high for playing fields that they say are not kept up properly by the city anyway. And that, apparently, caused Little League officials to rethink their agreement and bring it back before city staffers.

Fine said he wants to go back to a flat-fee rate. But city staffers said that would mean that Little League, which has fewer players than AYSO, would end up paying a higher per-player rate.

Dymoke said she would not be opposed to an increase, but "we certainly don't want to pay more than Little League."

And both Dymoke and Fine agree that the fields are not maintained as well as they would like now, and they questioned what kind of maintenance will be provided for the increase in fees. According to commission estimates, it costs the city about $10,000 per acre to keep up the playing fields. With eight acres at Congress Springs, that's $80,000 a year.

But City Manager Larry Perlin pointed out that the increase in fees is not only to fund the maintenance of Congress Springs Park's playing fields but to build up a fund with which to take care of fields that are proposed at various local school sites.

The new fields are scheduled to be funded through the city's parks development fund, which currently tops $2 million. But by California law, the fund can only be used to construct or purchase new items and not to maintain existing facilities.

Parks and Recreation commissioners stressed last week that they are happy with the work the sports organizations have put into the leagues. Many of the commissioners pointed out that they have children of their own in youth sports.

"We are very appreciative of the sports that are in Saratoga, and we want to work with you," Chairwoman Kay Whitney said, "but we just don't have the resources."

Commissioner Barbara Olsen said it was a difficult situation for all.

"There isn't one of us here who doesn't sympathize with you," she told the league officials. "The problem we're facing is how do we make this an equitable situation?"

Fine said he will not agree to such a high increase, which not only will create a hardship for some players' families but will also create an accounting nightmare for the league's volunteers.

"It's sad that we live in one of the richest cities in the country and we're even having this discussion," he said.

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