Saratoga News

Park fees going up--and down

By Clarence Cromwell

Groups renting Wildwood Park for fundraisers will pay $500 per day from now on rather than the $200 formerly charged, but many other park fees have been reduced.

In an effort to make the city's park facilities competitive with those of nearby communities, the Saratoga City Council on Dec. 6 voted to revise the city's fee schedule, lowering most fees for renting parks and city buildings, but increasing some fees, such as the one for fundraisers.

In addition to the higher rent, fundraising groups also will have to pay overtime salary for an additional park worker if they expect more than 500 people at their event.

The fee for Saratoga residents to rent a picnic area at El Quito Park increased from $25 to $27 per day. For non-resident groups, renting the park costs $30 per day.

At the Warner Hutton house, rent decreased from $65 per hour to $60 per hour for the house. The garden must be rented separately. Renting the garden, patio and gazebo at the Warner Hutton House became more expensive, increasing from $35 per hour to $54 per hour for residents and $60 per hour for non-residents. The fee now includes setup and cleanup costs, formerly $35 per hour. The $55 per hour the city used to charge for setup inside the house was also dropped.

The new rate schedule, designed to be less confusing and more enticing to park rental customers, includes fees for setup and cleaning of facilities in the new rent prices. Rather than set higher rates for non-residents, the city also decided to set one rental price for each city facility, but will give residents a 10 percent discount.

Park department employees applied the new rates to six rentals this year. Based on that test, they estimated that the new rates will result in 4 percent more revenue from building rental and 14 percent more from park rental.

At Wildwood Park, rental fees for small groups using a portion of the park formerly ranged from $60 to $85 per day, depending on the number of people involved. Space at the park can now be rented for $50 per day, regardless of the number of people. But three new fees were added for services formerly included in the rental: $40 to rent the park's stage, $10 to rent the horseshoe pit, and $10 to rent the volleyball court.

A new $50 refundable deposit for damage and a $15 processing fee were also added for rental of park facilities.

Rents for rooms at the community center, formerly ranging from $110 per hour for the multipurpose room and kitchen to $25 per hour for a conference room, decreased by $5 to $15 in most cases.

Customers can no longer rent the multipurpose room and patio room together. Instead, the city is offering the multipurpose room and a kitchen for $95 per hour, or the patio room and a kitchen for $45 an hour.

The processing fee for renting community center rooms decreased from $55 to $25. Most customers had complained about the fee, a city report stated, even those who didn't mind paying $600 to rent the community center for a wedding.

The fees for nonprofit organizations were reorganized to give them a 50 percent discount on hourly rates, rather than flat rates of $35 per hour rent and $25 per hour for cleanup and setup.

Saratoga schools can still use the parks for free. They often schedule picnics in September, May and June. Groups that rent facilities regularly, such as the Rotary Club, may also get a discount.