Parks considers rental fee increases

The Jefferson City Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department is considering an increase of $1-$5 an hour in rental fees for its facilities.

The proposed fee increases were unanimously approved Tuesday by the Park Resources and Planning Committee; approval of the full parks commission would be required to be enacted.

Assistant Parks Director JJ Gates said a slight incremental increase is generally better than a larger increase after several years.

If approved, the following changes would be made:

• Binder outdoor shelter — from $17 an hour to $18 an hour.

• Binder Lake Deck — from $17 an hour to $18 an hour.

• Community Park Outdoor Shelter — from $22 an hour to $23 an hour.

• EP Outdoor Shelter — from $22 an hour to $23 an hour.

• Green Berry Scout Flat Rate — from $25 an hour to $30 an hour.

• Green Berry Overnight — from $25 an hour to $30 an hour.

• Memorial Outdoor Shelter — from $22 an hour to $23 an hour.

• McClung Outdoor Shelter — from $22 an hour to $23 an hour.

• Garden Plot full — from $45 to $50 per year.

• Garden Plot half — from $25 to $30 per year.

• Binder Campground overnight — from $24 to $26.

Gates said there is no proposed increase for the indoor pavilion at McClung Park since its update was recently completed and opened.

“That’s fairly new to the community on this half-day, full-day rentals, so I thought another year based on what we did last year would work fine,” Gates said. “Things like overnight camping, dog park permits, things like that, we decided to leave it alone as well.”