The city raised fees on tennis permits and rec center memberships in 2011, and that has caused a dramatic decline in the number of memberships and tennis permits that New Yorkers have been purchasing, a report from the city’s Independent Budget Office said.
The report, first written about by A Walk in the Park blog, said that when the city doubled its annual rec center fees to $150 from $75 in March 2011 and its tennis fees to $200 from $100, it led to a sharp fall in the number of people willing to buy in. Single-play tennis permit prices rose to $15 from $7. (When Bloomberg came into office, annual tennis fees were $50.) Ballfield permits also rose.
Between 2010 and 2012, the number of annual paid rec center memberships fell 52%, and annual tennis permits fell 43%. Single-play tennis permits fell 46%. Even with the big increase, the administration still saw proceeds from the fees rise much less than expected — rec center and tennis fees together fell about $5 milion below the administration’s projections, says A Walk in the Park. And at many tennis courts, cracks like the one shown above at a court in Queens persist.
The city responded to the report by saying that many people bought annual permits before the planned increase went into place, which might skew the numbers. And a new program to offer younger people a cheaper option has resulted in an increase in permits. That’s helped rec center memberships rise 17% in 2013. A parks spokesman sent the following statement:
“In an effort to increase revenue to pay for services at parks around the city, NYC Parks increased recreation center membership, tennis and ballfield fees at the beginning of FY12 – from a nominal fee to a fee that is still far below those paid by New Yorkers who belong to private gyms. Many people renewed their recreation center memberships in the months right before the new fee took effect – giving the impression of a large decline. While the decline is not as great as the IBO purports, it still led us to reevaluate our fee structure. Two months ago, we added a new low-fee membership category of $25 for young adults. We are also allowing patrons and former patrons who held Senior Citizen Memberships before the category was reclassified with a second opportunity to be grandfathered into Senior membership and rejoin at the rate of $25 per year. We’re always looking for ways to improve our services in these times of fiscal constraint and make sure we can enable New Yorkers to lead physically active lives”
It must have been quite a conundrum for the Bloomberg administration — how to balance the insatiable thirst for fees and fine money with a drive to make New Yorkers healthier (whether they like it or not!). The insatiable thirst for fees appears to be winning at the moment.
Photo by Juniper Park Civic Association via A Walk In The Park.
Note to Bloomberg: If you double the fees but halve your number of members, you are exactly where you started. But now you have more room to recruit wealthier fee payers! Congratulations for disenfranchising the folks who are trying to make ends meet in this city and who need their taxpayer-owned parks more than ever!