photo by: Bremen Keasey

Sports Pavilion Lawrence is one of the city's four recreation centers. With the city facing a $6.5 million budget deficit that will lead to cuts, the city is exploring implementing entry fees to its recreation center facilities, but similar proposals have failed before due to public outcry.

The list of what to bring when using one of the City of Lawrence’s recreation centers has been pretty straightforward.

Headphones to rock out with a curated workout playlist? Check.

Good shoes for a run on an indoor track or treadmill? Check.

A few fancy moves for a pickup basketball game? Check, kind of.

But people who use Lawrence’s recreation centers have not needed to remember their wallet, as all four locations — Sports Pavilion Lawrence, Holcom Park Recreation Center, the East Lawrence Recreation Center and the Lawrence Community Building — have no entry fees.

Recreation center users, though, might need to make room on the list — and in their wallets — for fees.

The city faces a $6.5 million shortfall in its budget, and the Parks, Recreation and Culture department is facing a $1.8 million cut, which is about 10% of its current budget. As a result, the department is planning to explore adding user fees to its recreation centers.

Lindsay Hart, an assistant director with PRC, told the Journal-World that tax revenue has not been enough to maintain the facilities, and service level reductions — including closures — are a possibility. Hart said that adding user fees is a way to make sure the department’s “facilities are staffed and supported long-term,” which can’t happen without these kinds of changes.

“We don’t want to close facilities, but service level reductions — including closures — are a possibility,” Hart said.

It’s not the first time the possibility of adding user fees to Lawrence’s recreation centers has been considered in the past six years. In 2019, the department proposed entry fees at the city’s four recreation centers as well as Prairie Park Nature Center. As the Journal-World reported, fees ranged from $5 for an annual entry card for children to $48 annually for some adults — with a variety of options including a day pass or a “punch system.” At the time, commissioners worked with city staff to make 12 changes to the 2020 budget to eliminate those proposed fees, as the Journal-World reported.

In January 2023, the issue came up again. As the Journal-World reported, the department proposed $3 daily entry fees for adults at the city’s four recreation centers and Prairie Park Nature Center, with monthly and annual membership options also available. That effort didn’t even reach the commissioners’ desks. After public outcry, the advisory board voted that same month against the proposal, as the Journal-World reported, but did approve a proposal that raised parks and recreation program fees — the fees charged to take a class, for example — by anywhere between 10% and 60%.

During that cycle, many commenters had spoken out against the proposal based on “past promises” from local officials. Assistant Parks and Recreation Director Mark Hecker said at the time that that idea may have come from “one or two city commissioners” back when Douglas County voters passed a countywide 1% sales tax in 1994. As fee talk has emerged once again, some readers have reached out to the Journal-World about this idea of a past promise to not charge fees.

One potential promise Lawrence residents are thinking about came from the design of the Sports Pavilion Lawrence. Bob Schumm served on the City Commission from 2011 to 2015 when the complex was being designed. Schumm said the members of the commission made a promise that since the center was funded through the countywide sales tax, residents were paying for it every time they went to a grocery store.

“You’re paying for it on a daily basis,” Schumm, who is a current candidate for the Lawrence City Commission, said. “It made no sense to have a user fee on top of a sales tax fee.”

Although there is nothing in place to prevent the city from implementing the fees, the PRC department has said it wants public support for any program it aims to implement.

Maureen Brady, a spokesperson with the city, told the Journal-World in an email the city will be rolling out a community engagement strategy over the next few months as the fee proposal becomes fully developed. Although no fee proposal has been outlined, Brady said the city will provide more information in the next few weeks about online surveys and in-person events so the public can have a say, adding the city is “planning to connect with a lot of people about this.”

One of the biggest concerns that residents have had against implementing fees is how it could impact school-age children or low-income residents, potentially limiting their access to recreation. Schumm said one of the goals of having the recreation centers is providing a place where anyone can come off the street and join in a pick-up game or work out. Having a fee system in place could create a barrier for that use.

“​​It’s built for the health and welfare of the community,” Schumm said. “Starting to charge fees diminishes the usefulness of it.”

Brady said that she understands that ensuring access, whether through scholarships or the fee structure, is a key community priority, and that it’s one the city shares. She said the city will have “intentional conversations” with the community so any potential plan ensures it “reflects the needs of our neighbors.”

The budget shortfall is a big reason for the topic to once again come up. With the city looking at a $6.5 million hole, the current preliminary budget would see eight departments face cuts, including Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical, the Municipal Services and Operations department and the Lawrence Police Department, as the Journal-World reported.

Although many departments face cuts, they aren’t quite as steep as the one faced by PRC. Those three departments face a projection of around 4% to 6% cuts, compared to the 10% cut facing PRC. In the face of those numbers, people concerned about the fee proposal wonder why PRC should be carrying bearing a greater burden to balance the city’s budget.

“Why have we laid such an immense amount of (pressure) on the parks and rec department?” Schumm asked.

Luis Ruiz, the PRC director, told the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board in March some of that is because many other departments can’t implement fees to increase revenue, as the Journal-World reported. That kind of decision could defray cuts to key programs like youth sports.

Hart said the department anticipates the fee plan it will present to the City Commission will bring in $500,000 annually in revenue for the department. That could mean a budget cut of $1.3 million instead of $1.8 million — a 28% difference.

Still, any proposal presented by the department would need to be approved by its advisory board and the City Commission — and, of course, the public will have the chance to speak out on the issue.

Hart said the department is still developing any proposal and the city is looking forward to discussing the plan and getting feedback from the public. She said they will both need to work together to “think creatively” and consider the desires of the community while ensuring the stability of the department.

Other financial steps could be explored as well. The department’s master plan, which was approved by the City Commission in March, features other policy changes that could help fund the department, including establishing a foundation for the department to generate private funding through donations and seeking advertising partnerships.

While all of those tools will be explored by the department, Hart said the idea of charging fees is possibly the quickest way to offset the anticipated cuts.

“Realistically, we cannot continue to operate at our current level without generating additional funds to support our services,” Hart said.