BENTONVILLE -- Bentonville plans to increase fees paid by nonresidents who participate in Parks and Recreation programs.
Fees for nonresidents will be an additional $25 for any program with a registration fee of $75 or less and an additional $40 for any program with a registration fee of $75.01 or more.
The fee change goes into effect today. Participants in spring programs, such as baseball and softball, will be the first to pay the extra charges.
"Because we're spending in excess of $155,000 annually on nonresidents participating in sports programs, we're not able to provide the maintenance services to our citizens in the underserved areas of town," said David Wright, Parks and Recreation director.
Wright defined the underserved areas as those with few parks or other publicly funded recreational amenities, such as the city's southwest corner. The southwest portion doesn't offer much more than the Community Center because the department doesn't have the money to maintain other parks, he said. Playing fields that get excess use demand all the money, he said.
"We're not trying to tell those kids and those families you can't play here," Wright said. "We just want you to pay that expense so we really can serve our residents who do live in our community and are paying our tax base."
Field maintenance is an almost daily chore, Wright said. He used the soccer fields at Memorial Park as an example. More than 3,000 children use them each year.
"They are pretty beat up," Wright said of the fields, which need more than new sod when the season ends May 1. Crews work on the soccer fields until the next season starts on Labor Day weekend.
Gavin Fleming, 12, was at Memorial Park with his father, Dan, on Wednesday. Gavin has played on the soccer fields at Memorial Park for many years and knows how they wear down over time.
"The grass is good at the beginning of the year, but it's beat up and shredded at the end," he said.
Residents want tournament-quality fields, according to feedback the city has received, Wright said. Artificial surfaces could be considered in the coming years at Memorial Park, he said.
City officials have discussed increasing the fees for nonresidents for at least two years. The City Council agreed to the new fee structure in June and officially approved it in November.
A price difference for nonresidents may also be an incentive to other communities to develop similar recreation programming, council member Tim Robinson has said.
Wright has spoken to a handful of people who aren't Bentonville residents about the fee increase. All those interactions had a common theme, he said.
"They say, 'We feel like we are Bentonville residents,"' Wright said. "Maybe their kids go to Bentonville schools, or they attend Bentonville football games. The hard-core truth is they live in Centerton or somewhere else. Their sales tax dollars are going to other communities, not Bentonville Parks and Recreation."
Centerton is finishing a sports field complex, which will include four baseball and softball fields and a multipurpose field. One field has lights. The city is pursuing grant options to pay for lights for the other three, said Mayor Bill Edwards.
Youths wanting to play in leagues participate in Bentonville because Centerton doesn't have the facilities to accommodate them, Edwards said. And the complex won't be large enough to accommodate all the Centerton residents who play in Bentonville.
"Bentonville's been very accommodating to us for many, many years," he said.
Metro on 01/01/2019