Superior Pauses Rate Increase For Park Fees

A proposed rate increase for Superior's city parks has been put on hold at least for the time being.  The increase in rental fees for the city's pavilions and park facilities was initially floated to offset the costs associated with a new online reservation system; upon recommendation from Superior Mayor Jim Paine, the fees will remain at the level they were at.

The rate increase had been approved earlier last month by Superior's Parks and Recreation Committee.  According to news sources, the committee "approved increases of $5 to $25 to reserve facilities to cover the cost of new software that would allow users to book their events online".  Instead of the rate increase, Mayor Paine is recommending that the funds instead come from the capital improvement program; that decision is based off of a planned review of all of the fees associated with Superior's city services.  According to Paine:

"We have ordinances that conflict with each other.  They just started that project, and I think the end goal is to create one uniform policy about how all fee structures work."

At the same time, Paine believes that the pause on rate increases could help that process; his suggestion is that the information provided by the new online reservation system can help the city in rate assessment:

"I really believe, as much as possible, we should keep the prices as low as we can.  I don't want to reject the commission's opinion entirely.  I just want to see [the finance committee's] work complete before we make that change."

The new online reservation isn't in place yet.  Officials with the city and the parks and recreation department anticipate it becoming active sometime in March.