Opinion: New parks fees should be scrapped

Long-time Clark County resident and journalist Marvin Case shares his thoughts on county proposal to increase parking fees at parks

Marvin Case
Vancouver resident

Clark County officials propose to increase and expand parking and other fees at several parks. The plan runs counter to what is known about physical and mental health, and makes access to parks more difficult for people of all income levels.

The county proposes to increase parking fees at parks from $3 to $5, and to expand the number of parks where the fee applies from the current 4 to a total of 17. The proposal also includes increased fees for shelter reservations, events such as weddings and baptisms, camping, sports fields use, and meeting rooms.

This writer objects to charging any parking fees at public parks. The county proposal, available at clark.wa.gov/public-works/parks-advisory-board, makes a distinction between “personal choice services” which are subject to a user fee, and services and programs that benefit all taxpayers and therefore are not subject to fees. Somehow playgrounds benefit all taxpayers but parks do not. That’s hard to understand.

Parks director Rocky Houston said that playgrounds are open to all members of the public. That comment did not clarify the distinction. It would seem that parks are also open to all members of the public. Or should be.

Houston did not respond to a question about the Salmon Creek walking and biking trail. Is that a “personal choice service” for which a fee could be charged? Exactly what is the definition of a “personal choice service?”

The county report mentions the concept of “cost recovery” and states that a policy or goal for cost recovery of parks expenses is under consideration. According to county officials, fees charged nationwide for park use average 34% of the cost of maintaining and operating parks. In Clark County, the current fee program generates about $773,000 a year. In addition, a special tax dedicated for parks raises $3.5-4 million a year. If the increase in fees is approved and added at 13 additional parks, the county expects to generate as much as $1.1 million per year in new revenue. That means that the county would collect more than $5.8 million in fees and taxes earmarked for parks each year or more than half of the $11.2 million the county budgets annually for maintenance of parks.

To reach the 34% plateau with fees alone would require increasing current fees 5-fold and/or adding fees at more locations.

The county has compared its current and proposed fees with other jurisdictions including King County (Seattle), Clackamas County OR, Vancouver Parks, and Oregon and Washington state parks. Even though the fee proposal document says that data collection includes a review of “neighboring” public park agency fees, the comparison offered is anything but “neighboring.” Houston said he does not know why the rate comparison chart in the county report does not include Clark’s neighboring counties — Cowlitz and Skamania.

How convenient.

Fact is, neither Cowlitz nor Skamania county charges any fee to park at a county-managed park. Had officials included that bit of information in their comparison chart, they would not have been able to say that the proposed $5 parking fee is at the “low end” of the comparison. The “low end” would have become zero. It appears that planners have cherry-picked jurisdictions for fee comparison to make sure the $5 proposed parking fee looks acceptable.

The county’s parking fee program was suspended from 2009 until 2017. Houston, who did not work for the county at that time, said the reason for the suspension was the slumping national and local economies. Those who remember that era also credit political decisions by elected county

commissioners with making access to parks easier. County parks survived quite well during those eight years without parking fees and would do so again with adjustments to the county budget.

The county’s report points out that 11.5% of households in Clark County earn less than $25,000 annually, and that 6.4% of families live below the poverty line ($24,600) for a family of four. Poverty affects 13% of youth under age 18 and 7% of those 65 and older. The report lists six areas of the county where 10% of residents live below the poverty line.

The report also states that parks serve as an important resource to benefit the health and mental health of residents. “Parking and use fees can be a financial barrier for some community members,” the report correctly states.

The answer to this dilemma, according to the report, is to have the YMCA, County Park Foundation, Boys and Girls Club, or the Community Foundation for Southwest Washington provide parking pass scholarships or reduced cost programs to help low income people access parks. That’s a nice theory, but as yet county officials have not consulted with any of these service organizations about their interest in providing such cost reduction programs.

County officials understand basic economics. If you raise the price of a good or service, demand will decline. If the new fees are adopted, the county will exclude some people from parks — and not just low income people.

Instead, the county should be encouraging people to use parks. Families have picnics in parks and enjoy park amenities — large grassy areas, hiking paths, wildlife, nearby water and more. About a third of housing units in the county are occupied by renters with much of that being apartments. Access to parks and open space is important to those in apartments and on small lots.

Officials are aware that the current method of collecting fees can result in long lines of cars at some parks on certain days when cars queue up at staffed toll booths. Officials should be able to figure out ways to solve this problem. One way would be to drop the parking fee altogether.

Comments on the county fee hike and expansion proposal may be made via email to PAB@clark.wa.gov and by mail to Clark County Parks and Lands, 4700 NE 78th Street, Vancouver, WA 98665. Deadline for comments is Wed., July 26.

Marvin Case may be reached at marvincase@msn.com and at (360) 984-3626.