Othello votes to raise recreation, building fees

OTHELLO — The Othello City Council on Monday voted unanimously to raise a host of fees ranging from building permits to fees charged to use the city’s pool and parks.

“There have been no increases in park and recreation fees since 2013,” said Amy Hurlbut, Othello’s parks and recreation coordinator. “There was a proposed fee schedule that did not pass (in 2013), in 2015 there was a proposed fee schedule that did not pass, and as a result, it’s been over six years since there were any increases.”

Hurlbut said the fees are needed to help offset the costs of the state’s rising minimum wage, which rose by $1.50 at the beginning of 2017 to $11 and another 50 cents this January to $11.50.

Voters approved a statewide initiative in 2016 mandating a steady increase of the state minimum wage to $13.50 in 2020, after which it will be tied to the Consumer Price Index.

However, this has hit a number of recreation departments hard because of their reliance on part-time, minimum-wage labor in the summer. In response, Othello will raise the fee for an adult to use the city pool to $7 for a day pass this year, and eventually in increments to $8.25 in 2022.

The price to rent a soccer field with lights will be $17 this year, and will go up to $19 in 2022.

Othello funds its Parks Department primarily from tax revenue, with only about 22 percent of its 2018 budget of $646,000 coming from fees.

“Parks departments are not money makers, and they rarely operate in the green,” Hurlbut told city council members. “The opportunity lies to create programs that are meaningful to the community and mitigate those losses to the best of our ability.”

Anne Henning, Othello’s community development director, said that planning and building fees also have not risen in a number of years, and proposed a fee schedule that would phase in an increase over two years and then tie building fees to a standardized set of values established by the International Code Council (ICC), a group which maintains standards for building design, construction and safety.

“We have the opportunity to cover some losses through permit fees,” Henning said.

Because the fees would be tied to the ICC valuation list, which is updated twice a year, the council wouldn’t need to vote to change building and planning fees in the future.

The council has been wrestling with the issue of fees for some time, anxious to change them but not wanting to impose too steep a cost increase on residents or developers.

“We’re doing the best that we can,” council member John Lallas said of the recreation fee schedule. “We’re providing more services than we did several years ago.”

“I like the fact we’re going to do steady increases,” said council member and real estate developer Angel Garza, who recused himself from the vote on building fees. “It helps me in pricing new homes, and I know what increases are coming.”

“This is fair,” he added.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com.