Expect certain Peoria city fees to go up in the next year

By Philip Haldiman
Mail | Twitter: @PhilipHaldiman

For those who participate in certain Peoria-run offerings or plan to rent city spaces, expect fees to go up in the next year.

The city council Aug. 15 approved updates to Peoria’s fee table related to services and rentals in the Parks and Recreation, Neighborhood & Human Services, and Arts, Culture & Library Services departments.

The rate increases will take effect January 2024.

At a recent study session, Deputy City Manager Kevin Burke said the fees for these departments have not been adjusted since before the pandemic.

“The pandemic changed attendance in a lot of these items and certainly coming out of the pandemic, inflation changed a lot of cost recovery of these fees and these programs,” he said.

Here are some examples of the new fees under the new schedule.

The new maximum fee for daily passes for open swim for children under 16 will be $10. The current rate is $2 and the new rate will be $4.

The new maximum for the AM/PM day care program full time will be $115 per week. The current rate is $65 per week, and the new rate will be $95 per week.

The approval included 49 rental fees.

For example, the new maximum for a single ramada rental at a park will be $50 for four hours. The current rate is $20 and the new rate will be $30 for four hours. For the same fee and block of time, other Valley cities average about $36, according to a city document.

Officials said the average rental rates put the city at or slightly below market levels, and the approval for setting the maximum fee ceiling for each of those 49 rental fees does not mean each fee will be raised to the maximum.

The increases are not-to-exceed maximums. Officials said the city is not raising fees to match the proposed maximum rate, it simply provides a ceiling for how much the city could charge over time.

Parks and Recreation Director Chris Calcaterra said the average actual fee cost increase in 2024 will be 17%, and the average rental fee increase is 33%. For example, neighborhood park field rentals will go from $15 to $20 and swim lessons will go from $25 to $28.

“The increases are necessary to keep up with market rates and meet the city’s cost recovery goals,” he said.

Venue Operations Manager Blake Englert said the increases to fee maximums will help to facilitate meeting budgeted cost recovery goals, and are the top line cap that matches the pyramid parameters approved by city council.

He added the fee table maximums are not the new fees, and they are based on current customer trends and actual registration inventory and provide a path for staff to comply with the cost recovery parameters set by city council.

“Just because many of the fee maximums on the fee table are being increased, it does not mean every fee is being increased, nor does it mean that they are being increased to the maximum,” Englert said.

This is the second of two actions approved by the council regarding fee changes. The first action occurred June 6, when the range maximums were adopted for those programs that did not require public posting. In accordance with state statute, proposed fee changes not related to registration based programs and classes (such as field rental fees) were posted on the city of Peoria website 60 days prior to the Aug. 15 council meeting, according to a city document.

Also, officials said the fee changes have been posted on city of Peoria social media pages for 15 days prior to the Aug. 15 council meeting, consistent with state law.

Mayor Jason Beck said the programs offered by the city are priced in such a way that reflect the social benefit offset for the community as a whole. For example, a program like personal training is a highly individualized benefit and is priced to recover the greatest portion of operating costs, whereas group swim lessons provide a major social return on investment and are priced to recover a smaller portion of operating costs.

Beck said these are completely subsidized programs, and the fees don’t cover the city’s existing costs.

For example, with field lighting and field rentals, the amount of money the city spends on maintenance, overhead, insurance, and people is not what a resident pays in the fees.

“Our cost versus what we are actually charging are two different things. This is truly where social return on investment is a big part of what the city is doing. ... The actual electricity goes into this. Light bulbs. This is not covered in the total cost,” Beck said. “This is part of social return on investment. We are investing back into our city. ... making sure people can have birthday parties at Paloma Park or any other local park. But it does not cover our costs.”

For more information on fee increases, go here.

Philip Haldiman can be reached at phaldiman@iniusa.org, or on Twitter @philiphaldiman. We’d like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.

Philip Haldiman
Senior News Editor | Peoria
@PhilipHaldiman

phaldiman@iniusa.org

Meet Philip
Haldiman is an award-winning journalist who most recently took first place for investigative reporting in 2023 from Arizona Newspapers Association. He joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2015, covering Sun City West his first year. Since 2016, he has covered the city of Peoria. Prior to coming to INI, he was a reporter with The Arizona Republic for seven years, covering numerous cities throughout the Valley. Before that, he was a freelance writer.

Community: Haldiman spearheads the Peoria Independent Hometown Heroes Awards program, honoring local individuals and businesses that give back to the community. He has hosted local candidate forums over the years and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists. Haldiman also served as a member of the Journalism Program Community Advisory Board at Glendale Community College. Outside journalism, Haldiman served as a member of the city of Peoria Complete Count Committee for the Census, 2019-2020. Lastly, he has served as a member of his HOA governing board since 2021.

Education: Arizona State University with a BA in Journalism and Mass Communications and a BA in Theater. 

Random Fact: Haldiman is a fourth-generation Arizonan as well as wrote and produced an autobiographical comic book about his time spent in Hollywood and his life as a cult film star.

Hobbies: He enjoys hiking Arizona’s mountainous landscapes and is currently working on a play for the stage.