EDITORIAL: Henderson shouldn’t hike recreation fees

Last month, a couple of dozen Henderson residents showed up at a City Council meeting to speak out against a proposal to dramatically raise recreation fees. And in a laudable moment of serving the public interest, the City Council listened, tabling the measure and voting unanimously to instead consider a revised proposal. But make no mistake, the city wants to raise those fees one way or another, and a vote to do so could happen at tonight’s meeting.

As the Review-Journal’s Eric Hartley reported Friday, the city has now proposed phasing in the increases from now through 2017. However, that would still mean large increases in some areas right away, and by 2017, the full freight of all the initial rate hikes would be in place, bringing in an extra $2 million to $3 million a year.

The Boulder City Henderson youth swim club, which has more than 400 members and uses city pools, could have had to nearly double fees for some families under the initial proposal. But even under the new plan, the rate for a long course pool rental would nearly double to $4 this year, double again to $8 next year and increase to $12 in 2017. The discussion at the June 16 meeting focused largely on swim teams, but Mr. Hartley reported that the fee increases are nearly across the board and include arts classes, music lessons and rentals such as picnic areas and playing fields.

Mr. Hartley noted that a consultant hired by the city recommended raising dozens of fees, finding that Henderson’s charges are below those of other cities. That’s where this proposal completely runs off the rails. This isn’t a matter of what Henderson’s fees are in relation to those of other cities; it’s a matter of what its residents can afford to pay.

Suzanne Armstrong, who has two children in the swim club, made the point perfectly to Mr. Hartley, telling him that no family’s income (as a percentage) is going to increase that much in the next two years. Point of fact, many families’ incomes won’t increase at all and haven’t gone up in several years. Henderson, like the rest of Nevada, is still recovering from the Great Recession. Many thousands of homeowners are still underwater. Still more residents are underemployed and haven’t seen their incomes rise.

But that’s not the case with Henderson’s city workers — the real reason why these fee hikes are needed. They’re the best-paid local government workforce in the state, with far better salaries and benefits than those of the people who fund their compensation. In May, the council signed off on a new contract for police officers that will cost the city an extra $616,000 this year and $1.2 million next year. Last year, the council approved pay raises for workers represented by the Teamsters that cost the government $895,556 in the first year and $1.14 million in the second. And there was last year’s plan to give 66 administrators new professional allowances at the same time some of those same administrators were leading budget workshops to tell residents the city had to cut recreation center hours and services and raise fees.

Further, city officials last year floated a property tax increase for infrastructure — on the recommendation from a committee that was not allowed to examine city employee pay, Henderson’s largest expense.

This latest proposal, even if phased in, still is unfair to city residents, asking them to get by with less so Henderson employees can have more. The Henderson City Council should reject the recreation fee increases.