Councilman Frank Ferry champions increase in Parks and Rec fees for families outside the Santa Clarita city limits.

The Santa Clarita City Council will vote today on a proposal by Councilman Frank Ferry to increase the Parks and Recreation fees to non-residents of the City of Santa Clarita.

While I understand the premise of this proposed increase, it seems as though it would add more confusion than benefit. There are many areas where it’s not clear exactly where the Santa Clarita City boundary stops and the Los Angeles County area starts. For instance, not all of Valencia has been annexed into the City of Santa Clarita, and Stevenson Ranch is outside the City boundaries as well.

Is this fair? All of these residents contribute to the City coffers by paying sales tax at businesses located within the City limits, and even areas that want to be annexed have to wait several years for the process to be completed.

Currently, Santa Clarita City residents get priority registration over non-residents, which has a level of unfair play built in already.

Apparently the City of Oxnard experimented with this dual-fee system years ago and dumped it, stating that the recordkeeping was too burdensome and that many players lied about their addresses in order to get into the programs anyways.

The City of Castaic is concerned about this proposal, stating that this change may put more stress on their already overburdened facilities at the Castaic Sports Complex. The complex is open to residents of the Los Angeles County area, including residents within the City of Santa Clarita.

Palmdale has also adopted a 2-fee system, charging $5 more for each non-resident than they do for residents. Seems to me that the administrative costs of monitoring residents vs non-residents would greatly outweigh that additional $5 fee. So what’s the point then? If the fee essentially creates negative cash flow (the cost of administering the fee is greater than the income from the fee itself), then why does this fee exist in the first place?

Hopefully the Santa Clarita City Council can do this basic math and decide on a more equitable solution than their proposed 2-tier system.

What happened to the One Valley, One Vision project that promised better planning for resource management, and an enhanced quality of life for all who live and work in the Santa Clarita Valley? I would think that this Parks and Rec fee issue would fall under the "enhanced quality of life" portion of that project.

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