We charge in our local parks because someone has to pay for the insurance
and upkeep. It might as well be the people who actually use the facilities.

Helen in KY
----- Original Message -----
From: "mlgainey"
To:
Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2003 5:12 PM
Subject: [LbNA] Slightly OT: Why Do Local Parks Charge Fees?


> Just wondering . . .
>
> Why do local parks charge entrance fees for people who don't have tags
> on their cars from the areas that the parks are in? I first
> experienced this in the Fredericksburg, VA, area, and I saw a post
> recently about a Fairfax, VA, park that does the same thing. I mean,
> these are LOCAL parks. State and national parks, I can understand. I
> just don't get it.
>
> -- mlg
> Richmond, VA
>
>
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
>

I'm on city council for Vernonia, OR so I can answer why we recently
began charging for parks. Our parks get no money from the general
budget. Previously parks were generally "free" for day use and the
money to maintain all our parks came from fees at the one RV and
campground park. Improvements were funded via grant money.
Maintainance was break even at best and even then was "borrowing"
labor and equipment from the water and roads departments. RV/camping
revenue and grant money is pretty slim now due to the economy. We've
institued a $1 fee per water account per month that now goes to
parks. Non-residents have a choice of $2 a day or an annual pass of
$12 for two of the parks. The rest of the parks are still free. It
didn't seem fair for non-residents to get to use our two main parks
for free when residents pay for the maintainance. Note that in our
city, the folks using our pay for use parks are generally going
fishing and typically are not contributing to the local economy by
shopping, dining, etc.



--- In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, "mlgainey"
wrote:
> Just wondering . . .
>
> Why do local parks charge entrance fees for people who don't have
tags
> on their cars from the areas that the parks are in? I first
> experienced this in the Fredericksburg, VA, area, and I saw a post
> recently about a Fairfax, VA, park that does the same thing. I
mean,
> these are LOCAL parks. State and national parks, I can understand.
I
> just don't get it.
>
> -- mlg
> Richmond, VA

Maintenance and programs in a local or regional park are paid for with city and
county taxes. If a city or county feels that persons are not paying for the
upkeep of the park (i.e. people from outside the city or county) but are taking
advantage of what the park has to offer, they may charge a fee to non-residents
to offset that usage.

This is very similar to what many state and community colleges do. They charge
a higher tuition to students from out of state as they have not put any money
(by way of taxes) into the institution but are taking advantage of the
educational opportunities afforded by the college.

Here in Washington state we are having quite a hard time finding
funding for parks. Not only State Parks but many King County (
seattle metro area) parks.

Most are using a parking fee. A few parks are covered by the
municipality they are in .

Ft Worden in Pt Townsend is a state park and the city certainly
recognizes the importance of this park as a destination. They cover
the parking fee and this allows visitors to consider spending their
money in town etc. Certainly made me feel like the city understood
the worth of this big destination park inside their city limits.

I think many communities are finding the need to charge a nominal fee
to cover the basic upkeep of the parks. I have to wonder however
what the cost of the implementation of the fee and collections etc
are and if they are offset by the fee.

Hoopoe
Redmond WA

--- In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, "bcostley"
wrote:
> I'm on city council for Vernonia, OR so I can answer why we
recently
> began charging for parks. Our parks get no money from the general
> budget. Previously parks were generally "free" for day use and the
> money to maintain all our parks came from fees at the one RV and
> campground park. Improvements were funded via grant money.
> Maintainance was break even at best and even then was "borrowing"
> labor and equipment from the water and roads departments.
RV/camping
> revenue and grant money is pretty slim now due to the economy.
We've
> institued a $1 fee per water account per month that now goes to
> parks. Non-residents have a choice of $2 a day or an annual pass of
> $12 for two of the parks. The rest of the parks are still free. It
> didn't seem fair for non-residents to get to use our two main parks
> for free when residents pay for the maintainance. Note that in our
> city, the folks using our pay for use parks are generally going
> fishing and typically are not contributing to the local economy by
> shopping, dining, etc.
>
>
>
> --- In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, "mlgainey"
> wrote:
> > Just wondering . . .
> >
> > Why do local parks charge entrance fees for people who don't have
> tags
> > on their cars from the areas that the parks are in? I first
> > experienced this in the Fredericksburg, VA, area, and I saw a post
> > recently about a Fairfax, VA, park that does the same thing. I
> mean,
> > these are LOCAL parks. State and national parks, I can
understand.
> I
> > just don't get it.
> >
> > -- mlg
> > Richmond, VA

We have a letterbox in a local park that charges a fee. It is not a state
funded park. The township set up the park with the provision that the town's
people will pay for the upkeep of the park and all those outside the cty limits
will pay a voluntary $1 fee. Its a nice idea .


In a message dated 7/16/03 3:21:00 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
mlgainey@yahoo.com writes:

>
> Just wondering . . .
>
> Why do local parks charge entrance fees for people who don't have tags
> on their cars from the areas that the parks are in? I first
> experienced this in the Fredericksburg, VA, area, and I saw a post
> recently about a Fairfax, VA, park that does the same thing. I mean,
> these are LOCAL parks. State and national parks, I can understand. I
> just don't get it.
>
> -- mlg
> Richmond, VA
>




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]