Business Item 4c
STAFF REPORT
City Council Business Item
DATE: May 19, 2025
TO: Honorable Mayor and Council Members
FROM: Kaylyn Stainbrook, Interim Parks & Recreation Director THROUGH: Amy Nilsen, City Manager
SUBJECT: Adult Sports Team Processing Fee
STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
Adopt a flat processing fee to be added to each team’s league fee in place of individual player fees.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
The City of Fortuna Parks and Recreation Department facilitates three adult sports leagues throughout the year: Adult Basketball, Adult Softball, and CoEd Softball. Currently, each team is responsible for submitting a forfeit deposit at the time of team registration. Park Staff then determine League Fees based on the cost of equipment and the contracted costs of the Eel River Valley Officials Association (ERVOA), who provides referees, umpires, and scorekeepers.
Separately, each individual player then contacts the Park Office in person or over the phone to process a $5 resident fee or $10 non-resident fee and to sign a waiver.
For the 2025 Adult Basketball League, there were 205 Adult Basketball transactions processed by Park Staff with 173 of them being individual player fees. The player fees collected totaled $1320.
There were 16 registered teams. City collected an approximate average of $82.5 per team in Player Fees.
With new and limited staff in the Park Office, the numerous basketball registrations made operations very challenging. Due to the Park Office’s current staffing state, there is typically only one operator handling the office, including in-person, telephonic, and electronic inquiries for rentals, registrations, and Fortuna Transit scheduling and dispatching. Each sports transaction requires time to process the payment, time to update information on the team’s record, and time to report player eligibility to the ERVOA. Additionally, each cash/check receipt must be printed for daily finance deposits and then must be reviewed/audited by Finance staff.
To reduce staff time in the Finance and Parks & Recreation Departments, save paper on receipts and waivers, and minimize miscommunications and tracking errors regarding player eligibility, Staff recommends removing the individual Player Fee from the Fee schedule, and instead, adopting a flat $100 processing fee to be included in each team’s league fee.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The change of team fee will be negligible; However, this change will significantly save staff time.
Business Item 4c
RECOMMENDED COUNCIL ACTION:
1. Receive staff report presentation and review Council questions with staff
2. Open Public Comment
3. Close Public Comment
4. Motion to Adopt a $100 Adult Sports Team Processing Fee to Replace Individual Player Fees and be Included in each Team’s League Fee. Roll call vote.
ATTACHMENT:
• Proposed Fee Schedule Revision