The City of Syracuse Department of Parks, Recreation and Youth Programs is working to improve parks with programs such as yoga and Shakespeare in the Park.

The popular downtown park Clinton Square is being considered for a fee increase, in addition to several recreation services, including swim lessons. The increases, which would be the first in more than a decade, will help balance revenue against mounting costs, and the city would continue to subsidize the parks, according to WAER. The Syracuse Department of Parks, Recreation and Youth Programs recently delayed a vote to increase the fees by 50 percent to hear more from the community.

Julie LaFave, deputy commissioner of parks and recreation, said the cost increases are a drop in the bucket compared to membership listings at local community centers.

“The proposed fee increases only apply to a small portion of the population we serve and programs we offer,” LaFave said.

She added that drop-in youth programs across the city will remain free, as will senior programs and public swimming. The 50 percent increase, she said, is equal to $5 for swimming lessons, making the proposed rate for swim lessons $15. She said that rate is still substantially less than lessons at private facilities.

The proposed increases come in the shadow of a national trend to increase park fees, said Carmen Carrión-Flores, a research assistant professor of economics at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. Entry fees at 17 National Parks were proposed to increase 133 percent, from $30 to $70 per vehicle, per the National Park Service.

“Recreational facilities in Syracuse might be just following strategies to increase revenue adopted by national parks,” Carrión-Flores said.

Rink fees at Clinton Square generated $130,000 in revenue for the city during fiscal year 2017, according to the city of Syracuse’s 2017-18 budget. Carrión-Flores expressed doubts that increased fees would successfully raise revenues for the parks and recreation department.

“I am unsure if this entrance park fees increase will indeed generate higher revenue, given an anticipated decrease in attendance,” she said.

If access fees increase, attendance may decrease, resulting in a net-zero for the parks and recreation department. National trends support this projection. Sixty-four percent of adults said a fee increase at national parks would make them less likely to use those services, according to a national 2017 survey conducted by the Outdoors Alliance for Kids. That statistic was 71 percent among respondents with an income less than $30,000, per the survey.

In Syracuse, where the median household income is less than $33,000, it’s likely local residents would follow this trend. If those national results reign true in Syracuse, a fee increase may not be a successful solution to mounting costs and low revenue. Higher fees will also decrease access to Syracuse’s low-income residents. Although drop-in youth programs will remain free, swim lessons for a family of three would increase from $30 to $45. An increase that hefty may make swim lessons impossible for low-income families in Syracuse.

Increasing fees for recreational services should be the last option to balance revenue. Instead of increasing fees, 72 percent of respondents in the Outdoor Alliance for Kids’ survey said funding should be increased to parks and recreation services. The Syracuse-Onondaga County Planning Agency should advocate for more funding to these services, considering the county has a bigger budget dedicated to parks and recreation than the city of Syracuse does.

Ensuring parks and recreation services remain accessible to all Syracuse residents and that the programs are financially solvent are important tasks for the city. It’s important the city works to advocate for increased funding for these parks instead of charging more. A 50 percent price increase could be the difference in using park and recreation services in the city, and no price should be too great to restrict access to the great outdoors.

Patrick Linehan is a freshman policy studies and economics dual major. His column appears biweekly. He can be reached at pjlineha@syr.edu.

Published on April 8, 2018 at 9:49 pm