Since the mid 1990’s, I have coached or volunteered with most of the youth sports programs offered in our community, and on School Site Councils and booster clubs alike. I also have had the privilege of serving on the Los Alamitos Parks Recreation and Cultural Arts Commission since 2001.
I am not presenting my volunteer resume in an effort to impress anyone, but to explain that since I first became involved in the community, I have seen the need for and worked to find creative methods to improve the playing conditions of the fields for our kids.
I have also been a big proponent of creating a capital improvement fund for our fields, and while serving on the Parks and Rec Commission worked with city staff to implement the capital improvement program currently in place at the pool on the Joint Forces Training Base.
That being said, I cannot support the current school district proposal for facility fee increases and the Capital Improvement proposal they will be voting on at their next meeting on Tuesday, May 21. The Los Alamitos City Council will be voting on the same proposal on Monday, May 20.
To explain why I cannot support the fee increases, it is important to explain how we arrived at this juncture.
The school district and City of Los Alamitos staff in 2009 contracted a consulting firm to study the state our fields and playing surfaces and to recommend solutions and the cost of improving those fields. It is an extensive study, and although some may find fault in some of the conclusions of this report, it is this report that forms the basis for the proposed fee hikes.
There are two parts to the proposed fee increase.
The first is the increase of the hourly usage fees. This is what a user group such as Friday Night Lights (FNL) or AYSO would pay for to rent the fields and ostensibly, what the city and school district requires to maintain the fields. Both the LAUSD and the city is proposing to raise the hourly rates to a fee that amounts to a 100 percent increase to the youth groups.
The second part of the proposed increase is a per head charge for every child participating in a youth sports program that uses the fields more than four times in a single year. These per head fees are based on a usage formula where some user groups will be charged $15 per participant, but AYSO and FNL will be charged $20 per participant. If your child participates in AYSO or FNL both in the fall and spring they will be charged the fee twice. For a family with two children playing year round in one sport, each family can expect to pay $80 more in registration fees and if children choose to play in more than one program in a given year a family can expect to pay $160 more per year for their kids to participate in youth sports program in our community.
Of course these numbers are somewhat hypothetical. What is not in question is the numbers in the City and LAUSD’s staff reports and documentation to justify these exorbitant fee increases. In the presentation to the community and the sports groups, the fee increases to AYSO and FNL will amount to roughly a 600 percent increase in annual fees paid to local governmental agencies.
AYSO paid $10,000 to the LAUSD and City last year. If approved as currently recommended AYSO Region 159 can expect that amount to increase to over $70,000. FNL paid $6,500 and their fees will go up to roughly $65,000 annually.
In addition to the outrageous amounts that are being proposed LAUSD is asking for this money to be paid with no documented guarantee that the money will be spent on the fields. Certain elected LAUSD Board Members have assured the community that they can be trusted to be good stewards of the money, but by not having a documented policy or a draft of a policy to present to the community, they are putting the cart before the horse.
Not being one to simply complain about an issue, I do admit that the youth groups may agree with the city and board of education on some points.
1. We agree that the fields in our community are shamefully in need of repair and improvements.
2. We agree that if we want to improve the fields the usage fees needs to be adjusted. The fees have not been increased in over 10 years.
3. We can all agree there is a need for a capital improvement fund, to fund large-scale projects on the fields. Most if not all of them need to have the outdated irrigation systems replaced, and we know that will require financial resources.
Since there is a consensus on these very important facts, I’m hopeful that the elected LAUSD Board of Education, and the elected Council Members from the City of Los Alamitos will reconsider the draconian methods being considered for imposing the outrageous fees as proposed. But instead work with the Youth Sports Groups of our community to find a way of getting our fields in the condition that our kids deserve. We all want the same thing, we just need to work together to find a way of getting there.