Fee Hikes Eyed for Boating, Camping at Popular Rec Area

By Cathy Locke, The Sacramento Bee, Calif.

Jan. 15–Fees for activities and services in the El Dorado Irrigation District’s Sly Park Recreation Area, one of the most popular camping and boating sites in the Sacramento area, could increase as much as 50 percent for the 2008 season.

Staff members Monday presented the district board with proposed fee increases for more than 30 different categories of activities, services and facilities at Jenkinson Lake, near Pollock Pines, and the surrounding camp sites and day-use areas.

The recreation area, with the 640-acre Jenkinson Lake as its centerpiece, draws about 190,000 visitors a year.

Cheri Jaggers, co-manager for recreation administration, said Sly Park’s fees were last raised in 2004. Since then, she said, the cost of services has increased 25 percent, according to the consumer price index.

Jaggers said staff members gathered information on fees charged at 14 similar facilities in the state to come up with a benchmark for Sly Park. Many of Sly Park’s fees, she said, were as much as 30 percent below average fees for comparable recreation areas.

Under the proposed fee schedule, the day-use fee would increase 30 percent, from $8 to $10, as would the regular camping fee, which would go from $20 to $26. The fee for a group camp site would rise 10 percent, from $200 to $220, and 25 percent for youth groups, increasing from $100 to $125.

But it was the proposal to boost the annual fee for mooring slips by 45 percent, from $500 to $725 that drew public outcry Monday.

Lee Wirtz said he lives off Sly Park Road and has been on the waiting list for one of the lake’s 74 boat slips for seven years. During that time, he said, the fee has gone from $200 to $500, forcing some people to drop of the list or give up their berths.

Many who boat on Jenkinson Lake are retirees living on Social Security, Wirtz said.

“Why not charge people from outside the county more?” he asked.

Jaggers said staff members considered who the users are in each category and proposed larger fee increases for those dominated by people from outside the county.

Primary users of Sly Park’s camping facilities, she said, are from outside the county. El Dorado County residents, on the other hand, are the primary purchasers of annual day-use permits, which would increase 22 percent, from $90 to $110.

Eileen Scates argued that district and El Dorado County residents, who subsidize Sly Park through their property taxes and water rates, should have priority when it comes to leasing boat slips or reserving camp sites.

“It’s pretty sad that this is our little lake and we don’t have priority … Those of us that are local have more love and compassion for keeping this a nice clean facility,” she said.

Recreation director Don Pearson said it probably would be legal for the district to charge higher fees to noncounty or nondistrict residents, but it would be a nightmare to try to check the residency of everyone who used the park.

Further, he said, most people who moor boats at Jenkinson Lake are either El Dorado County residents or have summer cabins in the county, so they pay property taxes.

Finance Director Phil Knapik said about 50 percent of the $1.8 million budget for fees would fund Sly Park, if the proposed schedule were approved. The other $900,000 in revenue comes from property taxes and water rates.

Director Harry Norris said, “There’s nobody in this room that likes to raise rates for anything.”

But the district’s approximately 40,000 drinking-water customers are subsidizing Sly Park, and even with the proposed fee increase, he said, the recreation area would be only halfway to achieving self-sufficiency.

“We have to prepare the public for further increases to pay for improvements,” Norris said.

However, he suggested raising camping fees to perhaps $30 rather than $26 in favor of a smaller increase in mooring fees.

Pearson said camping is Sly Park’s major source of revenue, and the district runs the risk of losing business if fees are too high. But, he said, planned improvements, such as the addition of showers, might justify higher fees.

Director John Fraser said, “I don’t know where the balance is between camping and mooring … This is like (King) Solomon: Where do you split?”

Director Bill George said he was concerned about the large increase in slip fees, and asked whether staff members had considered that Sly Park may have fewer amenities than some of the recreational areas used as benchmarks.

“I’ve generally found that smaller increases on an annual basis are more palatable,” George said.

In the future, Jaggers said, “We will be looking at fees annually, and we’ll raise fees in baby steps rather than leaps.”

Staff members were directed to review the proposed fees in light of comments received Monday and to report back to the board Jan. 28.

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