As Peachtree City is working to catch up on routine maintenance of its recreation areas with sparse funding, the city will be looking at raising its recreation participant fees in coming months.
Currently, the city charges each athletic association a fee for each participant, each season to go towards facility maintenance paid for by the city. The fee ranges from $5 for city residents, $10 for residents elsewhere in Fayette County and $25 for rec participants who are out of county residents.
Those revenues aren’t near enough to cover the full cost of recreation maintenance, Community Services Director Jon Rorie told the City Council at its retreat last week.
Rorie noted that there has been a decline in recreation participants as the city’s demographics continue to shift, so funding is expected to be reduced even further as that trend continues.
Little League baseball participants are down 28 percent from 2006, and youth basketball saw a 17 percent decrease from its peak, Rorie said. And yes, even the soccer participation numbers are down this year, according to city staff.
Rorie suggested having a council workshop on the recreation fee issue to delve into the matter further. When that discussion occurs, the city will also be looking at its fee structure for out of city and out of county participants.
Funding will continue to be an issue as the city looks to address problem areas from tennis courts in such poor shape they have to be closed, to a number of issues at the Braelinn recreation complex, and routine maintenance such as painting, fence replacement and minor roof repairs at other city recreation facilities.
Rorie made a detailed presentation to council about those issues, including an in-depth look at the Braelinn recreation area, where scorer’s stands have fallen into disrepair and the dugout roofs have holes. The Braelinn fields also have significant drainage issues and are not irrigated, Rorie noted.
The Braelinn fields are typically used for overflow space for Little League, which holds most of its games at the city’s larger Baseball and Soccer Complex.
BSC has its own issues, from a path that has had significant damage to roof leaks and repainting needs.
At the Glenloch recreation center, problems range from cracks in the tennis courts to a playground bench with a missing back.
Many of these issues are small but they need to be addressed, Rorie said.
And the problems aren’t limited to the city’s active recreation areas. Passive parks also have their issues, such as the sign missing at Huddleston Pond.
