GREENWICH — Fees for some parks and recreation activities may go up in the new year, but prices for the most popular passes are expected to stay the same.
Greenwich Parks and Recreation is aiming to increase parts of its fee schedule for 2024, pending approval from the Board of Selectmen. The proposed changes, which are detailed on the town’s website, include more than 100 changes to the existing fee schedule.
There would be myriad increases for organized recreation activities, marine activities, most camps and more. Fees to play at the Griffith E. Harris Golf Course, for example, would generally increase just a dollar from current rates.
There would also be some fee changes and increases for activities at the Dorothy Hamill Ice Rink and the Western Greenwich Civic Center.
Many fees would stay the same, including the prices for annual beach passes and fees for riding the town’s ferries.
Additionally, the department has detailed new rental fees for facilities at the Eastern Greenwich Civic Center, which is scheduled to open in the spring. Event spaces, a gym, a patio, pickleball courts and more will be available for hourly rentals once construction is complete.
There are a few price decreases too. Day passes for the skate park near Roger Sherman Baldwin Park, for example, would drop from $10 to just $5, if approved.
Parks and Recreation officials presented the proposal changes to the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday. The board will take up the rate hikes at its next meeting on Dec. 14, once the public has had a chance to review the proposal and provide feedback to the town.
Joe Siciliano, director of the Parks and Recreation Department, said the fee increases are modest.
“The goal is to look at them every year and do some minor incremental increases,” he said. “Certain years, we focus on certain fees, and certain years there are others, but nothing here is really going to jump out and have a big effect.”
Siciliano said on average, increasing these fees would generate a fee revenue increase of just under 5 percent.
In a letter to the board, Parks and Recreations officials said the fee increases were decided after considering “minimum wage increases, market value comparisons, and operational demands.”
Folks play golf at the Griffith E. Harris Golf Course in Greenwich, Conn. Monday, May 4, 2020.
File / Tyler Sizemore / Hearst Connecticut MediaThe board did not have a substantial discussion of the fees during the meeting, but First Selectman Fred Camillo noted that the department reviews the fee schedules of neighboring towns to make sure Greenwich is in line with, or in some cases lower, than prices charged elsewhere.
“Nothing really jumps out,” Camillo said of the proposed fee changes.
During the meeting, Selectwoman Lauren Rabin remarked that time has passed quickly since she and Camillo first considered Parks and Recreation rate changes after their election in 2019. Siciliano said he was strategic about when he came forward with this new request.
“If you think about the timing, I wasn’t going to come before an election to get a fee increase,” he said with a chuckle.
