[ OUR OPINION ]

Too many questions
left unanswered in
park fees bill

THE ISSUE An ambiguous measure would allow the city to charge fees for the use of parks.

BEFORE the City Council conducts further discussion of the Harris administration's plan to charge fees for "special events" at city parks, officials must come up with specific rules that would show who would have to pay, how much the fees would be and what facilities would be covered.

The Council also should press the administration to find an operator for the Waipio soccer park, as Mayor Harris promised when the facility was proposed.

Taxpayers are already bearing the hefty price tags for construction of the new parks: $26.6 million for Waipio and $56.1 million, to date, for Central Oahu Regional Park. Particularly disturbing is that the Waipio park initially was slated to cost just $11 million and that the administration was to have contracted a private entity to operate and maintain it.

Now it is seeking the fees to defray maintenance costs that in fiscal 2002 were $554,000 for Waipio and $647,000 for Central Oahu, which is expected to climb to $792,800 in 2003.

Further, the bill leaves open the possibility for fees to be charged at all city parks, not just the ones discussed during a Council hearing this week, and for allowing fees to be set at the discretion of the parks director. The measure is too broad and ambiguous. It does not define what "special events" are, what the fee levels would be, what formulas would apply in determining charges, and it leaves the public's views out of the discussion.

The issue of charging taxpayers for the use of public facilities ranges beyond the administration's proposal. It would be reasonable if the intent is to gain a portion of profits made from professional tournaments or entertainment events to pay expenses the city incurs for such use. To levy fees from youth soccer games or community tennis matches would not be.

Until city officials lay out the particulars, the Council should reject the bill.