Murrysville officials next month will consider raising fees for groups renting its park pavilions, facilities and athletic fields.
“The reality is, costs go up,” Murrysville Chief Administrator Michael Nestico said. “That includes things in our everyday lives as well as the cost of municipal government.”
Fees for pavilion rentals at Townsend, Bear Hollow, Sardis, Pedora, Kovalczik, Heritage, Chambers, Duff and Murrysville Community parks, along with Veterans Field and the riparian area and wetlands at MCP will go from $50 to $75 for residents, and from $100 to $150 for non-residents. A $10 electricity fee for some of the pavilions will not change.
Nestico said hourly rates for the recently built MCP Clubhouse would go from $25 to $50 for residents, and from $40 to $75 for non-residents. The cost of an alcohol permit for both facilities would also be doubled, from $50 to $100.
Lastly, fees for for the use of athletic fields in municipal parks would go up by 20% across the board. The fees vary based on seasonal field usage.
Some fees will remain unchanged, such as the fee for an alcohol permit in Sardis Park, the fee to rent the Townsend Park gazebo or the security deposit required to rent any of the pavilions.
Last year, the fees brought in a little more than $38,000.
“It should be noted that the fees have not been increased in the last 15 years,” Nestico said. “We don’t want to make it any more difficult on these (sports) organizations, but we are providing the fields primarily for our local groups. So to offset some of those costs, after 15 years I think there’s some justification to raising them a little bit.”
Nestico acknowledged that some sports organizations have purchased equipment and provide maintenance on some fields.
Councilman Jason Lemak asked if staff could prepare a list of expenses related to facility and field maintenance, to see where they might be able to find some savings, rather than hiking fees.
“I don’t know those numbers offhand, but the expenses will certainly outpace the $38,000 in revenue that we brought in last year,” Nestico said.
Council’s next meeting will be at 7 p.m. Feb. 5 at the municipal building, 4100 Sardis Road in Murrysville. Meetings are broadcast live on Comcast local access Channel 21 and streamed live at Murrysville.com.