title
APPENDIX A - SCHEDULE OF FEES, RATES & CHARGES - RELATING TO CEMETARY FEES & PARKS, RECREATION & CULTURAL AFFAIRS FEES (B)
Ordinance No. 130912
An ordinance of the City of Gainesville, Florida, amending Appendix A, Schedule of Fees, Rates and Charges of the Code of Ordinances by revising fees, rates and charges for cemetery and parks, recreation and cultural affairs facilities and events; amending sections 18-17 and 18-23 of Chapter 18, Article II, Park regulation of the Code of Ordinances related to registration fees for youth programs and surcharges; providing directions to the codifier; providing a severability clause; providing a repealing clause; and providing an effective date.
recommendation
The City Commission: (1) approve the fee changes and (2) adopt the proposed ordinance.
explanation
PARKS, RECREATION & CULTURAL AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT STAFF REPORT
Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs is a department that evolved through a series of mergers over the years to create and provide consistent services and programs to our citizens. The Nature Operations Division first merged with the Parks and Recreation Department then the Cultural Affairs Division merged with the Park and Recreation Department to create what is now the Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs Department. With that said, there are areas that staff is addressing to establish greater consistency throughout the department. The process for approving fees, fee increases and establishing fees for programs and events is one of these areas.
In working with the City Budget and Finance Office, it was recommended that all departmental fees and charges be included in the biennial ordinance adopted by the City Commission every two years. This past adoption in 2013 did this for the very first time. As with anything new or a change in operation such as including the fee structure in the ordinance, it requires early evaluation and revisions to make certain quality service is achieved. The revisions to the fee ordinance are being recommended to provide greater clarification for staff and the public and to provide overall better service.
The revisions to the Cemetery fees represents contracts with Tacachale and Alachua County for indigent burial services consistent with the existing contractual commitments.
The rental damage fee for centers is needed to create greater consistency throughout the department for damage deposits required when renting facilities such as the Thomas Center.
In instances where Recreation fees are being adjusted, revised, or text added or removed in a fee title, these are cases where changes occurred during the time period the ordinance was being prepared and when it was actually adopted or are requested to better clarify and describe the fee itself. Some revisions are operational changes being requested after the 2013 summer season to provide overall better service to our customers.
The revisions for festival ticket prices and t-shirts sales address changes that will simplify the collection of the fee at an entrance gate or a sales booth such as at the Hoggetowne Medieval Faire where the need to make change hampers the ability to quickly process customers at the entrance gates. In these cases, some fees were rounded up to the nearest dollar and some were rounded down to nearest dollar. In all cases as this, the changes reflect a consistent method that offset each other still yielding the same amount of revenue or greater perhaps. These changes were recommended by the City's Finance personnel who worked the event in the recent past.
Thomas Center fees were added when staff realized these were not included in the ordinance originally.
Lastly, the department has always had the ability to provide reduced rates for early registrations, small incentive discounts for signing up early, etc. These are business incentives designed primarily for youth programs to encourage early registrations. The department requests permission to continue to promote early discount incentives similar to what has occurred in the past.
CITY ATTORNEY MEMORANDUM
If the City Commission approves changes to the fees, then this ordinance requires two hearings and will become effective immediately upon adoption; however, the new fees, rates and charges are not applicable to reservations of parks, recreational or cultural facilities, if the reservation was booked prior to the effective date of this ordinance.