City Manager's Work Group on Recreation Financing

The City of Boulder's recreation programs are financed through some funding from general taxes but mostly from fees to program participants and facility users. The money to maintain the programs and facilities flows through a special revenue fund called the Recreation Activity Fund.

In December 2006, the Boulder City Council adopted an updated Parks and Recreation Master Plan. Through the master planning process, the City created the Core Service Business Model, a systematic way to determine how much of the cost of providing services will be recovered through fees for its various programs. These policies also determine how the General Fund subsidy to Parks and Recreation is used. In its cost recovery methodology, the city sets which costs are recovered from each class of recreation participants.

Some groups have challenged whether the resulting fees are fair and equitable to all program and facility participants. In response, staff proposed to form a City Manager's Work Group on Recreation Financing for Parks and Recreation to take a fresh look at the pricing policies and cost recovery methodology. City Council endorsed this direction.

The group has been appointed by the City Manager to make recommendations to him. The group's charge is to review and compare information about the City of Boulder Parks and Recreation Department's and other local and national parks and recreation agencies' pricing methodologies and financing structures, to make recommendations on a sustainable financing structure for recreation programs/services, and to recommend a fair and equitable pricing methodology to be applied to all users.

•   4-30-08 Final Report to the City Manager 311.16 Kb

Last Updated on Tuesday, 25 September 2012 06:54