Park fees bill Members of the City Council Budget Committee balked yesterday at a bill that would charge fees for special events at major parks on Oahu after questioning how it would affect residents and other Hawaii parks.
upsets officials
City Council panel members
Council questions trash plan
are wary of a bill allowing the
city to charge for park useBy Rosemarie Bernardo
rbernardo@starbulletin.com"I'm very troubled of charging user fees for parks," Councilman Charles Djou said.
Committee members asked Deputy Managing Director Malcolm Tom yesterday to specify a definition for special events to be held at the Waipio Soccer Park, Central Oahu Regional Park and Hans L'Orange Park and other facilities and to come up with figures for a fee system. The Budget Committee will hold further discussions on the bill.
The bill would give the city Department of Parks & Recreation the authority to set fees and charges for the use of the park facilities that may be used for special events such as games, exhibitions, tournaments, league play and entertainment, to cover operating and maintenance expenses.
"We would like to be able to recover costs so we can maintain these facilities as world-class facilities," said Tom.
Administration officials are focusing on the three parks because of their maintenance costs in fiscal year 2002: $554,000 for Waipio Peninsula Soccer Park, $647,000 for Central Oahu Regional Park and $85,637 for the Hans L'Orange facility.
Annual costs for fiscal year 2003 will increase to $792,800 for Central Oahu Regional Park while the costs remain the same for the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Park and Hans L'Orange Park, officials said.
According to Tom, the total planning design, construction and land acquisition costs for the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Park totaled $26.6 million, and $56.1 million to date for Central Oahu Regional Park.
The administration wants to charge user fees to groups like the United States Youth Soccer Association, Hawaii Youth Soccer Association, Hawaii State Tennis Association and the Hawaii Winter Baseball League.
City Council Chairman Gary Okino believed it was appropriate to charge user fees for teams and organizations visiting Hawaii, not residents.
Councilwoman Barbara Marshall said she was "a little leery" of authorizing user fees for any recreational facility.
Marshall told Tom that she would not want to see user fees to include soccer teams playing at Aikahi Community Park in Kailua.
"My concern is that this could get really abused," she said.
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City Council members raised questions yesterday about a bill that that would reduce the amount of residential garbage collections to one per week. Council questions
once-weekly trash
pickup planStar-Bulletin staff
Councilwoman Barbara Marshall, during a city Budget Committee meeting, said reducing pickups for residents creates a health and safety risk because garbage would sit in the open longer.
A public hearing on Bill 17, which also would charge homeowners $8 per month for those who want a second day of garbage collection, will be held before the City Council at 4 p.m. April 30.
Frank Doyle, acting director of the city Department of Environmental Services, said the second-day collection fee would generate $8 million that will go into the operating budget.
Another Budget Committee meeting will be held before the public hearing to handle proposed amendments and Council members' concerns on the bill.
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