Well, well, well.
It’s going to be up to Mayor Greg Hines and Lesli Ossenfort, director of the Adult Wellness Center, to decide what the new membership fees for the center will be.
It took a special meeting of the Rogers City Council to get that to happen.
I don’t remember a time when the council has been asked to choose fees for city-sponsored activities, and they weren’t going to step into it now.
A cynic might observe that half of the council faces re-election next year.
However, they did direct Hines and Ossenfort to establish a higher fee, and voted in favor of a two-tiered fee plan that will require non-residents to pay more than those who live in the city.
A cynic might also note, generally, center members have supported higher fees, so supporting a higher one wouldn’t seem to pose much of a threat for aldermen facing re-election.
And the people who live outside the city? Well, they don’t vote in city elections anyway.
Higher fees are a must, and making non-residents pay more is only fair to those who live in the city, paying city property taxes. Sales tax revenue come from anyone shopping in the city.
Hines said he leans toward a $50 annual fee for residents and $60 for non-residents. Frankly, I think a $10 difference isn’t all that much. Right now everyone pays $25 a year.
According to the most recent numbers, there are 19,000 members of the center, 10,000 of whom are active. Although I believe that 19,000 is a bloated number, if there are anywhere near that many people who can walk in the door tomorrow and use the center’s facilities, something has to be done. The stress on the facilities is immeasurable. Someone has to pay for it and I do not think the burden should be fully carried by city taxpayers.
What I’d like to know is how many of the 19,000 and the 10,000 are non-residents. If the number is more than half, I say they should be paying a fee higher than $10 more than residents.
That, however, is water under the bridge, and it is up to the current administration to establish fair fees — which may have to change every year — and to get the center on a regular maintenance schedule to keep it in top-notch operational form.
There are other issues with the center, like the hours of operation.
If you are a regular reader, you know I support extended hours so that members who work can get in for a workout. I have pretty much abandoned hope of such a thing ever happening, but, what the heck, I will repeat myself.
This center was built not just for retirees, but for those who work as well. Each group supports the facility with their tax money.
The center was designed to help keep people of a certain age healthier. The sooner they are able to start that regimen the better.
Keeping the center open just one more hour in the evenings certainly could be a big step toward helping one segment of our community on the way to a healthier lifestyle.
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LEEANNA WALKER IS LOCAL EDITOR OF THE ROGERS MORNING NEWS AND THE SPRINGDALE MORNING NEWS. FOLLOW HER ON TWITTER AT WWW.TWITTER.COM/NWALEEANNA