LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – Lubbock City Council will be reviewing a proposed ordinance which, if passed, would roll back a 75% fee increase at the Berl Huffman Athletic Complex.
The fee structure for reserving turf fields at the complex increased from $40 an hour up to $70 an hour in October.
Mayor Mark McBrayer said the revenue generated from the fee increase is designed to help cover the cost of maintaining the facility and replace the artificial turf, with hopes of bringing in more activity and revenue for the city.
“The facilities like Tom Martin and Berl Huffman are designed to bring in out of town tournaments,” McBrayer said. “So, we want them to at least come closer to paying for themselves. Our regular parks come out of our general budget, but we have a separate fund that we can use for these two fields to develop them.”
Short notice on price increase
McBrayer and Mayor Pro-Tem Christy Martinez-Garcia said they knew the short-notice increase could affect local organizations and leagues who use the fields.
“The people who use these locally, a lot of them are soccer groups that have a lot of members in it,” McBrayer said. “When you raise the price to 75 percent without a lot of notice, and they have already established their fee structure for the year, that hit them pretty hard.”
The impact led McBrayer and Martinez-Garcia to propose an ordinance to roll back the increase and delay it for a year to ease the financial burden.
“Many of them already established their fees for the kids to be involved, so it affected their bottom line, and I think it’s fair to consider giving them more time to adjust to that,” McBrayer said.
Revenue benefits cited
McBrayer said the city is always looking for ways to raise additional revenue. He said if the price increase becomes permanent, it would help keep facilities in top shape for everyone to use.
“When people come into town, they don’t just attend the tournament, they eat in our restaurants, stay in our hotels – it brings in out of town sales tax money to the city which is good,” McBrayer said.
“Any time you get sales tax money from visitors for your city, that relieves the pressure to raise taxes on your own citizens who live here, and I am all for that.”
The proposed ordinance will be discussed at the next city council meeting Tuesday at Citizens Tower.
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