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- Swim team wants to dissolve city contract
- SUNNYSIDE (Tuesday 5-19-98 ) --Should an elderly woman on a fixed income have less food on her table in order to help subsidize Sunnyside swim team kids, so those kids won't decorate Sunnyside with graffiti?
Without using the word "extortion", that's what it seemed to boil down to in a meeting of the Sunnyside City Council last night.
Sunnyside Rotary Swim Team officials told the Council they no longer want to pay "$125"-per-kid in swim fees they earlier contracted to pay for the 1997 and 1998 seasons.
Rotary wants the fees reduced to those of surrounding towns--say between $7 and $35 per kid. They claimed the higher fees block less affluent parents from paying for their kids to join the Swim Team.
This, Rotary said, is making the Sunnyside Swim Team an "elitist" outfit. They complain participant numbers have dwindled. Rotarians claim the fee cuts the number of Sunnyside swimmers financially prepared to turn out.
- And they point out that swimming makes the boys and girls too tired to grab their spray cans and paint the town.
Rotarians condemned city swimmer fees as "excessive." Their written statement was signed by SRST President Jeff Anderson, VP Bill Smith, Treasurer Patricia Lepe, Secretary Teri Garza, and District Reps. Jim Grubenhoff and Ted Durfey.
The Parks and Recreation Department and the Parks and Recreation Commission--also present last night--indicated Rotary's ideas have little merit.
In the first place, the city charges Rotary a fixed $3,800 for pool use per year. If Rotary has 76 kids participating, the fee is automatically $50 each, not $125. If the fee were actually $125, it would mean only 30 Sunnyside kids are swimming now.
The Commission reportedly brought out these facts to Rotary swimmers in earlier meetings to discuss the issue.
- Moreover, Commission members said Sunnyside's 50-meter pool is bigger and better than any other in the valley, cost local taxpayers 'way more to build, and costs more to maintain. Cutting fees means those same taxpayers would have to take up the slack.
Demanding satisfaction, about 25 Rotary folks brought their plea to the City Council last night, hoping city fathers would override a Parks staff and Commission's decision to leave the current fee structure intact.
Katie Martin, of the Parks and Recs Commission, said the swim team is a private organization.
"If we reduce (swim team) fees, it means the city subsidizes a private program. If we make concessions to the swim team then others will want to follow," she said.
She suggested the Rotary Swim Team find other sources of bucks, such as United Way, as some other cities do.
Brent Cleghorn, Parks and Rec. Commission, said the swim team brought in the current contract agreement. "We approved it," he said.
- "If the swim team had more members, it would cost less per participant," he said.
He said the pool design was changed--"costing tens of thousands of dollars"--to accommodate the swim team. Now they want more. The $3,800 (the fixed rate the city charges the team per year) is fair," he said. Other city staff said the figure is about half of what it costs the city to accommodate the swim team.
That seems to break it down to a market problem. Swim team participation apparently isn't that popular, not because of cost, but because of the nature of the swimming activity itself. And if participation goes down, costs per individual swimmer goes up.
One former swim team mother said after the meeting that it isn't swim team fees that made her children ask to enter another sport. It was the long hours of participation in season that allowed for few other activities.
"Here you've got these shivering little kids in the water several days a week, sometimes to midnight. That's the reason they don't have many participants, not because parents can't afford it," she said.
To the argument that non-Sunnysiders bring revenue to town during home swim meets, Parks and Rec. Commissioner Rudy Ramos said, "Baseball does the same thing. Are we going to subsidize the pool, and then baseball? Where do we end it?" he said.
Commissioner Ellen Bird told the council she is concerned for kids.
- "But I don't feel the city should be responsible for funding these things. We already put out a lot of money for the pool redesign. I suggested Rotary look into United Way. If taxpayers do it, we pay twice. I'm on a fixed income. The city isn't responsible for this," she said.
Nevertheless, City Councilman Mike Aguirre said the city should "wipe out" (pay from city coffers) the $3,800 it costs to run the pool for the swim team.
City Finance Director Bud Schatz disagreed. "For every dollar we cut from the fee, we lose two dollars," he said. Not only is swim team revenue lost, but so are the dollars that could be generated if the pool were open to the general public rather than closed for swim meets.
- "When you subsidize, you close down," said Councilman Roy Anciso.
Councilman Don Vlieger suggested the city utilize volunteer lifeguards--rather than paid ones--to watch over swim team swimmers. "Let's get in sync with other cities," he said.
- Councilman Errol Brown said that lifeguards are mandatory, and that if volunteers can legally be used, he suggested the city use volunteers.
Tom Byers, Parks and Rec. Director, said, however, the insurance authority would have to okay such a decision.
On a motion by Vlieger, the council decided to refer the matter to staff to negotiate a fee reduction for the Rotary Swim Team. It was noted that, unless and until that happens, the team will remain under the current contract.