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An increase in rates and fees for Pella’s community services programs was approved at this week’s Pella City Council meeting. The increases would affect services such as the aquatic center, community center and recreation programs. Pella City Administrator Mike Nardini says the key factor in selecting to increase the fees came out of the city’s need to maintain the current amount of the service costs that city subsidizes.

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“The reason why we needed to increase fees is when you look at our general fund, on an annual basis the general fund subsidizes these community services programs to the tune of about $900,000 per year,” said Nardini. “Now when we look out in our financial projections for the general fund – and we’re essentially looking at flat property tax valuations – it’s felt in the next two to three years that the subsidy for the general fund can not increase for these types of programs, which means we’re going to have to pass along more of the costs to the people who utilize the programs.”

The fee increases amount to approximately 10 percent for each program. For example: the cost to participate in flag football, basketball or soccer recreation leagues will go from $30 to $40 dollars for residents. The rate increases for community services in the city of Pella will take effect on May 1st of this year.
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