Hampshire park district fees will go up

Enrolling your budding sports star in a Hampshire Park District athletic program will cost a little extra beginning this spring, after park district commissioners approved fee increases and cuts to help erase a $60,000 shortfall.

Commissioners Eileen Fleury and Arlene Larmon, as well as Park Board President Robert Whaley voted 3-0 Wednesday to increase revenue by about 9 percent - or $34,000 - and approved more than $30,000 in expenditure cuts. The increases and cuts will take effect beginning fiscal year 2011, which begins May 1, or when a new program begins.

The board was forced to increase revenues and trim expenses after voters defeated a pair of referendums at the Feb. 2 primary election. The park district had requested to borrow $4.9 million and increase the park district's limiting tax rate. The failed effort to raise the district's limiting tax rate about 5 cents per $100 of a home's equalized assessed value - from about 9 cents to 14 cents - would have generated about $150,000 in revenue.

"People who use the programs are the ones who voted yes (on the referendum)," Fleury said. "I would hate to see them have to be punished financially because of it."

Under the hikes, athletic programs will increase about 14 percent. Registration for soccer programs, for example, will cost between $5 and $10 more for residents and up to $20 more for nonresidents. Kindergarten programs will go up about 7 percent.

Reductions included: eliminating the summer intern position; cutting maintenance and janitorial staff by 300 hours each; reducing 200 hours each from supervision and summer care staff; and eliminating conference registration fees. The park district will also save another $18,547 by reducing Park District Executive Director Robert Whitehouse's position to part-time.

"I am concerned with cuts to maintenance and summer care hours because we are struggling to keep up with the maintenance of parks," Larmon said. "The fact is we can't maintain the parks with what we have now."

In addition, the park district will implement a $500 rental fee to use the village's parks for events, such as Coon Creek Days and the Early Times Street Rod show. The rental fees would cost Coon Creek Days organizers $3,000 to use Bruce Ream Memorial Park and the car show about $1,000.

"It is a delicate balance in asking for fee increases," Whaley said. "We want to stay competitive and it is a modest increase."