Swim teams to chip in $55K additional revenue
Swim teams using the Kedron Aquatic Center will be paying more per swimmer as part of fee increases adopted by the Peachtree City Council Thursday night.
The monthly fee for the Southern Crescent Aquatic Team and high school teams will jump to $32 for each participant. Previously SCAT paid $5 per swimmer per month and high schools paid $3 per swimmer per month.
Masters swimmers will see a monthly fee increase from $5 to $18 each, and the summer Pirates swimming program, which had been free of charge, will charge $5 for each in-county swimmer and $10 for each out of county swimmer.
The changes are estimated to bring in an additional $55,000 in revenue to offset the operating costs at the aquatic center.
The new fees were based on each team’s usage of the pools, said city Leisure Services Director Randy Gaddo.
Part of the reasoning behind the fee increase is the pending need to replace the bubble that envelops the pool during the fall and winter months. That expenditure is expected to cost around $250,000. Without the fee increase, one option is to not replace the bubble, city staff said.
SCAT coach James Myers said he understood why the fee increase was necessary, and he hopes to be able to find ways to meet the cost other than passing it along to parents.
The fee hike adopted last year moved SCAT’s fees from $7,000 a year to $17,000 a year, Myers said. This new proposal will raise them to $42,000, he said.
Myers suggested that SCAT could rent a room at Kedron to serve as its office and bring in extra income for the city, allowing SCAT to move out of its current rented office space. He also suggested that SCAT might be able to get more revenue by offering a triathlon training program in the early morning hours.
One local mom brought her daughter in front of council for an emotional plea, and she asked if fees had been raised proportionately the same for all recreation teams in the city. She was told that unlike swim teams, the recreation teams put money back into their facilities through maintenance and also improvements such as a new concession stand recently donated to the city by Peachtree City Little League.
The mother said if the fees got too high she would be forced to withdraw her daughter from the swimming program.
“By raising fees you are not going to gain revenue, there are families who are going to walk,” she said. “We cannot pay $25,000 more.”
Councilwoman Kim Learnard said she agreed the fees were going up significantly, but she also quoted the prices of sport participation at McIntosh High School going from a $350 commitment for lacrosse and going upwards for other sports.
“None of us is taking this lightly,” Learnard said. “We feel your pain and we have a lot more pain to come.”
The new fees adopted by council also include a open gym fee as well. The fee could be paid per visit at $1 for ages 3-11 and $2 for those 12 and up, or paid quarterly at $18 for ages 3-11 and $36 for ages 12 and up.
This fee, along with a new fee for rentals of the multipurpose outdoor rink, are estimated to bring in $40,000 a year.
The rental fee for the rink is $25 for a civic group, church or school, $50 for a city or county resident, $60 for a city or county commercial entity, $70 for an out of county resident and $80 for an out of county commercial entity.
Another fee hike comes in adult team athletics, where the registration fee will increase by $25 per team for an estimated $5,000 in additional revenue.
