Fees

[Don Haddix]

There are some misconceptions about meeting room availability and fees, in example:

Rooms have not been free to all non-profits. In example, my HOA used The Gathering Place main room for many years. We had to put down $125 in deposit with balance due after use.
Rooms are not standing open during prime hours. We had to book the room mentioned above at least ten months ahead of time because usage filled up that fast.
If a room actually ends up standing open during prime hours it is not because non-profits were not allowed to book it for free.Other points that need addressed are:

There are limited numbers of rooms available. No where near enough to fulfill all the booking requests.
Taxes do not cover the full expense of these facilities and those expenses are going up. So paying users have always had priority, but there needs to be resolution on who gets priority on bookings lockins.
Yes, there are times of the day when rooms are empty, but no one, paying or non-profit, are requesting rooms at those times of the day.
There are a huge number of non-profits around, but not all serve a PTC service, which is a requirement for free usage. My HOA, in example, is non-profit but it serves our development interests, not PTC, so we pay.
Out of PTC non-profits have been wanting to use the facilities for free.So, something has to be done and proposals have been sought and made with refining the process in mind.

My thinking and suggestions have been:

Only PTC non-profits can use for free. This one had already been considered and adopted.
Not all non-profits are equal. Free should be for those that provide a service for PTC as a whole. Not a simple definition that will need to be refined with time.
Paying customers get priority, unless PTC wishes to pay higher taxes to make it first come first serve, which they do not.
Non-profits qualifying for free usage are limited to one use a month with some number x total usages per year for at least certain types of non-profits receiving free usage.
Non-profits can reserve a room one month ahead but can be bumped by paying users up to two weeks ahead of reservation date.The other alternative is more non PTC space to be built, as is happening at the First Baptist Church, and/or the PTC citizens passing referendums to pay for the construction of more PTC space for usage.

But remember, the last referendum to build more was strongly defeated.

PTC has grown, costs have gone up and nothing is free. These spaces will either be paid for fully out of taxes, meaning a tax increase, or a combination of tax plus fees. Not a reality any of us want to face but face it we must.

When involved with Boy Scouts, our space was donated by a church. For 4-H we paid reduced, but still weekly rates for the facility. Just saying many non-profits find alternative solutions and we still have more wanting space than we can satisfy.

Suggestions are always welcome.

You may also find Fiscal Health (http://donhaddix.com/showthread.php?t=31) informative.

[Don Haddix]

An issue worth adding here came out of the Council Meeting.

A growing number of developers, in example, are simply not doing their due diligence and having their property ready for inspections. Why? Because it is cheaper to have PTC inspectors tell them where the issues are, how to fix them and then come back repeatedly until all is right.

That is not the function of inspectors. Inspectors come to see if anything is missed or done incorrectly but expect to see the efforts done to have the work properly performed before they get there. That is not happening more and more.

So yes, it increases costs to developers in a tight market. But someone is going to pay the wages and other costs associated with the inspectors. That someone is either the developers or the tax payers, meaning you, via property and/or sales tax revenues, in example.

Add in all the issues of Recreation and other such services where costs for use and maintenance are going up then think about how you want it paid for with the options being 100% everything at taxpayer cost or a taxpayer funded base plus user fees. But remember if all tax payer based some people will get very liberal with use and abuse of the system because after all, everyone is contributing.

Some use none of these above mentioned services. Some use them extensively. So what is fair? Who are we willing to pay for 100% and who are we not?

We need clear definitions, policies and expectations here, which I have demanded. But someone will pay for these services and allowing abuse drives up wage, materials and other costs upon you.