City of Tarpon Springs, Florida 324 East Pine Street

Post Office Box 5004

Tarpon Springs, Florida 34689-5004

(727) 938-3711

Fax: (727) 937-8199

www.ctsfl.us

June 5, 2020 To: Mayor, Vice-Mayor and Commissioners From: Mark G. LeCouris, City Manager Subject: Authorize Waiver of Sports Field Usage Fees

ACTION REQUESTED: That the Board of Commissioners authorize a waiver of sports field usage fees for Tarpon Springs Little League Baseball, Tarpon Springs Youth Soccer and Tarpon Springs Youth Football. BACKGROUND: I request that the Board of Commissioners authorize the waiver of field usage fees for Tarpon Springs Little League Baseball, Tarpon Springs Youth Soccer and Tarpon Springs Youth Football. Youth sports leagues have been seriously impacted by Covid19, just as our business community has. This waiver will assist them in the recovery phase of Covid19 and help return our youth to the sports fields. I have received a letter from Manny Tsesmelis of Tarpon Springs Little League Baseball requesting a waiver of the fees for the summer. My recommendation is to waive the fees for those three organizations through September 2020. The present fees are $2.50 per hour per field, which was established by the Board of Commissioners on June 20, 2017 based on the recommendation of the Parks and Recreation Board.

1

Judy Staley

From: Mark LeCourisSent: Thursday, June 4, 2020 1:45 PMTo: Judy StaleySubject: FW: Little League Field Use Fees

From: Tsesmelis, Manny [mailto:manny@tsesmeliswealthmanagement.com] Sent: Monday, June 01, 2020 3:07 PM To: Connor Donovan <cdonovan@ctsfl.us>; Mark LeCouris <mlecouris@ctsfl.us> Cc: Jessica Rimel <tsllpresident@gmail.com> Subject: Little League Field Use Fees

Good afternoon Mark and Connor. Tarpon Springs Little League would like to request a waiver/discount on field use fees for the summer. We are looking at refunding much of our Spring fees back to parents due to the interrupted Spring season. We have also donated all of our concession food and drinks to local families in need and North Pinellas Hospital. This leaves us with some uncertainty in our financial situation as we approach opening back up. Thank you for the consideration. If you have any questions, please feel free to call me at 727-798-7037. Manny Tsesmelis, AAMS® LPL Financial Advisor

Tsesmelis Wealth Management, Inc. 210 S. Pinellas Ave Suite 212 Tarpon Springs, FL 34689 www.tsesmeliswealthmanagement.com https://www.lplguidedwealth.com/advisor/TWM Office: 727-934-2222 Fax: 727-279-2909 manny@tsesmeliswealthmanagement.com Please note: trade and/or move money instructions cannot be accepted via email. Securities offered through LPL Financial. Member FINRA/SIPC

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MEMORANDUM

Date: June 9, 2020

From: Commissioner Costa Vatikiotis

To: Board of Commissioners

Subj: SPORTS FIELD FEE WAIVER

This agenda item piqued my interest because 20 years ago we didn't have any such city fee. I

was curious as to how it came about. My suspicion was that it was during the “Great Recession

of 2007-2009,” and I was right. At that time based on the public record, magazine subscriptions

to city hall were being cancelled in trying to balance the budget. So, city finances were not

good.

I hope you are getting to know me in that I will look at the history of how something came

about to gain some insight beyond the usual back-up information.

In a nutshell, the fee was established to help ends meet during a city-wide economic crisis that

was part of a greater worldwide crisis. After the crisis, the city seemed to forget about the fee.

Given how and when this fee was created, I do not believe it was intended to be permanent.

We are well passed that economic crisis now, and I truly believe that any adverse effects of

COVID 19 will pale in comparison. Moreover, we continue to face challenges with our city's

youth athletic leagues. Many of our parents are simply finding it difficult to pay for their

children’s participation. Actually, as you read on, it's not a new problem, but a persistent one.

The city simply hasn't been listening, and it took the cancellation of an entire youth football

league season to get the BOC's attention.

I believe the BOC should proceed with considering waiving the sports field fee for now as

requested. However, in following-up this matter, we should consider eliminating this fee

altogether during the budget process or take other measures to ease the affordability

challenges of our youth athletic leagues. I'm hoping the city staff and the Parks and Recreation

Advisory Board can make recommendations.

Here’s the historical background of this fee. (meeting minutes attached).

The idea of a fee for using the sports fields came about in 2008, specifically during the budget

workshop of July 29, 2008. The staff followed up with what was referred to as a “cost

recovery” program that was approved by the BOC at its regular session of August 26, 2008.

Mayor Alahouzos and Commissioner Donovan might find interesting a couple of the comments

made during the B0C discussion. Then, Commissioner Alahouzos “suggested researching using

LED lighting on the fields, and asked if the five-dollar resident fee card could be waived for

minors because he did not want any child to be denied use of City facilities because they could

not afford it.”

In addition, Mr. Paul Donovan, President of the Tarpon Springs Youth Football League,

“explained that 250 children currently participate in football sports programs and almost 101 of

the children are scholarship candidates and the organization by-laws were written to allow

those children who could not afford to pay to play. He said each year the organization normally

starts with a deficit of approximately $10,000.00 and that it will be a task for them to pay for

electrical use up front. He hoped that the Board could find another way to allocate the funding

for the electrical use.”

It seems like we are still facing the same challenges after 12 years.

The city got away from the recreation activity card fee approach for the sports leagues and

went to a direct charge of $2.50 per hour per field in 2017. The new fee structure was

discussed and concurred with at the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board on April, 10, 2017,

and by the BOC at the regular session on June 20, 2017.

I found it interesting that the same affordability concerns were expressed at the Parks and

Recreation Advisory Board meeting in 2017 as they were to the BOC in 2008.

Vice Mayor Karr, then Commissioner Karr, also inquired at the meeting of June, 2017, about the

use of LED lights. I’m hoping since then the City has taken steps to transitioning to LED lights. I

am sure this question will be asked again. We should look to technology to reduce recurring

costs, such as electricity, as we did with the solar panels at the water plant.

Briefly, from a financial perspective, the sports field fee of $2.50 per hour per field was

reportedly expected to total about $39,000 annually. * This amount is about 5% of the

Recreation Dept. budget and less than 0.5 % of the City's property tax revenues.

The $39,000 was also represented in 2017 as being about 25% percent of the maintenance

costs of the fields. The 2020 budget shows that $75,000 is budgeted for electricity/water/sewer

for all recreational facilities, including the athletic fields and tennis courts. I don't know whether

grass mowing and other landscape costs are passed on, as well. It seems it would be unfair

since those costs are absorbed in the normal maintenance costs of the city's other properties,

such as parks and rights-of way.

I'm hoping as part of this year's budget process, the city staff and the Parks and Recreation

Advisory Board can assess the financial health of all the youth athletic leagues. Solutions must

be developed on how to cure any affordability hardships and other participation issues created

by the city. I am certain that hardships do exist. The BOC was told that in 2008, 2017, and we

had an entire youth football season cancelled in 2019, and now COVID-19.

Thank you for consideration of this matter, and I hope this background information is helpful.

*Please see the P&RAB minutes of 4-10-2017. I also tried to determine what the budgeted

revenues are from the leagues, but the revenue side of the budget is unclear and the amount

could range from $14,500 to $59,000.