Rankin Pool Family Fee Hike To Be Considered Tuesday

A $2 hike in the “family fee” for the Rankin Pool will be considered by the Parks, Recreation, Marina and Cultural Commission at its meeting Tuesday.

According to Patty Lorick of the Recreation Department, the fee hike will make the discount for a family of five “more reasonable.”

Currently, residents can purchase a Family Pass for $12 for up to five family members. The proposal is to increase the fee to $14.

“It’s a substantial discount,” Lorick said. “Sometimes we’ll get three adults coming in on a family pass and they’re not always related. We don’t mind giving a discount, we just want to bring it up to a more reasonable level.”

At $5 per adult, $2.75 for kids three to 17 years old, and $4 for those 55 and older, a typical family pass for five people would, at the present rate, be a discount of $7.50. If the family consists of two parents and three children, the discount would amount to $6.50.

A fee structure for reserving the picnic area for private parties will also be considered by the PRMCC Tuesday. The proposal is to charge from $130 to $225 for up to 30 people.

The picnic area reservation will hopefully avoid problems that broke out last year, when tempers flared over who got to use the picnic areas for parties.

 “People would get upset,” she said. “They wanted the big picnic area in front of the play structure. We would get 50 people showing up for a 1-year-old’s birthday party, and most of them were adults. We’re missing out on important revenue.”

The PRMCC will meet Tuesday, March 20 at 7 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chambers, 525 Henrietta St.