Cost of lighting & Watering a Sports Park  

As you read the following articles remember: Cost of lighting is not included in Glendora park-use-fees. The 2003 budget shows the energy cost of lights at $169.000.00  Over a five year period park lighting cost for Glendora will exceed $1,000,000.00 (one million dollars)*

 
Annual Cost of Glendora Community Services Cost
2001-2002 Amended $3,158,122.00
2001-2002 Projected Budget $3,042,874.00
2002-2003 Approved Budget $2,951,125.00
   

September 2004 Council Approves additional $7,340,000.00 to Glendora Community Services for Single City Park

Glendora City Council Meeting of Nov 19, 2002 -  "The biggest cost is for lights and that cost is not recovered with the current fee schedule. The City is paying for electricity to support general walk-ons, private leagues, travel leagues, Glendora High School girls baseball and softball, etc".

The second biggest cost may be water. A rate increase was implemented in July 2003.  Cost for a single sports complex may be $300.00 per day!

Who is paying for the maintenance of the fields that less than 10 percent of the citizens of Glendora can use?

Free Use of Golf Course 

Upland CA -- "The water and maintenance costs were significant for the grass," Upland Athletic Director Jim Drake said. "I think they estimated they were spending $30,000 in water costs alone just to maintain the football field annually." James Lee, Claremont-Upland Voice  (c) Los Angeles Times -- January 16, 2004

MORENO VALLEY CALIFORNIA -- City officials are planning cuts to a parks and recreation program that cannot pay for itself.  $850,000 must be cut from the Parks and Recreation Department to balance the budget. There must be a fundamental change in the part the city plays, to that of simply providing a place where they can play. And only those programs that pay their own way will survive.
VISTA CALIFORNIA ---- 2003 -- It may cost local sports leagues more to play ball at three city parks if the City Council approves a proposed increase in lighting fees prompted by the state's electricity crisis.

"It's expensive to keep the city lit, and this is indicative of that," Councilman Ed Estes Jr. said last week.

"We give priority to resident users," Assistant Director of Community Services Cathy Brendel said.

Officials said the current rental fees don't reflect the actual costs of lighting the fields, costs that have been affected by the skyrocketing cost of electricity that stems from the deregulation of the California energy industry. The last time lighting fees were increased in Vista was in 1995.

Teresa Chamberlain, a Vista Little League organizer, said the cost of lighting games has doubled within the last year. Unlike clubs that use the city's parks, Vista Little League uses its own fields.
 
*Energy cost have skyrocketed and with the addition of new lights annual cost will exceed $200,000 and could reach $250,000.00
 

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