Saratoga News

City gives youth sports teams a reprieve for the time being

Maintenance an issue

By Sarah Lombardo

Saratoga youth sports leagues won't have to pay higher fees to use Congress Springs Park this year. But next year could be a different story.

The Saratoga City Council, going against a recommendation by the Parks and Recreation Commission, agreed April 21 to keep fees for the Saratoga Little League and the American Youth Soccer Organization at the same $1,500 flat rate for the 1998 seasons, and to ask a soon-to-be-hired consultant to begin negotiations with the leagues for following years. The Parks and Recreation Commission had recommended that fees be increased to $12 per child for this year and that the new consultant begin talks with the leagues for future years.

Original proposals called for fees to be raised to $15 for next year's seasons, with an ultimate increase to $20 per player in future years. Little League officials had agreed to such an arrangement earlier this year, on the condition that improvements be made to the park and that AYSO also agree to the deal.

AYSO didn't.

Larry Fine, a regional commissioner for AYSO, said the increase--from the current $1,500 per season the league pays to an estimated $14,400 for the first year--was too high. Fine questioned how much the city actually spent on the parks and said it was unfair to target the teams when they aren't the only ones who use the park.

But city officials pointed out that the fee-increase picture was larger than the maintenance of the almost 10-acre park. City Manager Larry Perlin said money from the fee increases not only will go to Congress Springs upkeep, but will also help maintain future fields slated to be built at several local school sites.

If the city can't afford to maintain the new sites, they will not get built, Perlin said, stressing that the city must raise fees for that purpose.

Parents seemed to question that reasoning, complaining the city doesn't maintain Congress Spring Park to their league's safety standards as it is.

"You don't really think that there's anyone here who wants the conditions you're talking about, do you?" Councilmember Paul Jacobs asked the crowd. "The reason the fields are in such bad condition is that we don't have the money to maintain them. You come to us and say, 'Hey, we don't have the money for this.' And we have to say, 'Hey, we don't have the money, either.' "

Councilmember Gillian Moran said the 1997 loss of the utility-users tax led to reduced maintenance throughout the city.

Most of the almost 30 parents who showed up at last Tuesday's meeting--some with soccer-uniformed children in tow--said they understand that increases are necessary but added that they were not included in talks and that the sudden announcement of the increases caught them off guard.

Fine said that although he was aware increases were being talked about, the deal even took him by surprise.

"There were no negotiations--none," he said. "I was basically called and told the fees would be $12, then $15, then $20."

Officials said discussions with both leagues would begin in the next month.

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