City may lower cost of using sports fields

The Santa Fe City Council’s Public Works Committee on Monday endorsed an ordinance requiring youth sports leagues and schools to pay just $100 per season to use most Santa Fe playing fields.

Other provisions of the proposal include requiring teams to supply volunteers for an annual cleanup day organized by the city and a mandate that fees collected from the leagues be put in a field maintenance fund.

Councilor Carmichael Dominguez, sponsor of the ordinance, said he and other city officials have met with various youth sports representatives and the $100 per league/per season figure seems generally agreeable.

The city had previously considered going as low as $25 per league/per season.

The intent of the ordinance “is really so that we can provide as much access to our parks for youths as possible,” Dominguez said.

Dominguez said Santa Fe’s youth sports leagues “provide a huge service” for the city. Without them, municipal government would have to pick up more recreational slack, he said.

“When you talk about dropout rates and youth engagement and health, it’s really important that we do what we can to make sure our youth are engaged in some sort of activity as early as possible,” Dominguez said.

A public hearing drew a handful of youth league boosters, all relatively agreeable to the proposed changes.

Paul Grace, president of the Santa Fe American Little League, said the city’s youth leagues never asked city officials to lower fees. He said his organization will try to pass the savings on to players.

Grace also said he hopes the decline in revenue won’t bring about a corresponding drop in field maintenance.

Ruben Lovato, president of Santa Fe Young American Football League, said leagues and city officials “came up with something we feel comfortable with.”

The city’s annual cost of maintaining and watering its playing fields is more than $2 million a year.

The city took in about $8,250 in fees during the past fiscal year — but should have taken in about $26,000, according to a staff fiscal impact report. Youth sports leagues are supposed to be charged $15 per participant if the child is 10 years old or older and $10 for a child below that threshold.

The proposed ordinance would maintain the current fee schedule at the Municipal Recreation Complex. City officials have previously said the complex’s debt service requires a different set of financial obligations than other city parks. However, officials said Monday the city could lower fees at the MRC, too, and make up the difference by using money from the city’s general fund for bond obligations. Several councilors, including Dominguez, expressed support for the idea.

Councilor Chris Rivera said he’d also like to see the city decrease fees for adult sports leagues. Recreation staff said the city doesn’t currently collect all the money — which, for adult leagues, can be hundreds of dollars — required by the current ordinance, at least partly because adult leagues have a hard time paying the sums.

Elected officials said they hope to hear from adult league representatives when the ordinance goes before the Santa Fe Finance Committee on April 15.

Councilor Ron Trujillo noted that the city hasn’t been strict about following through on several provisions of the current playing fields ordinance. He said he especially wants to ensure that leagues are providing the city with required financial information.