The Citrus County Commission on Tuesday decided to look into charging user fees for county athletic organizations' use of athletic fields.

Fees would be charged for using the athletic fields, and could include the use of field lights.

Specifically under review was a contract between the county and the Youth Athletic Organization's (YAO) Nature Coast Flag Football League for the upcoming season. The YAO contract was labeled as a boiler-plate type of contract by County Administrator Brad Thorpe, who noted that certain provisions of the contract had been crossed out.

One of those provisions included the payment to the county for the use of field lights for practices, and a requirement for the county to provide the keys for the lights for the concession stands under certain conditions. A number of other provisions were also struck out from that contract.

County Commissioner John Thrumston asked for Thorpe to come back to the commission with a proposed structure for some type of user fees for the county to follow. He also noted that the county is nearly into the next budget cycle, and the county was looking at cutting things, so user fees might help fund the county's operating costs.

During discussion, Thrumston said that the users of those fields have told the commission previously that they don't mind paying fees.

Commissioner Gary Bartell said that any fees the county might consider imposing should be phased in. "The main issue, I think," Bartell said, "We need to phase it in so it's not sticker shock to the youth organizations."

Thorpe also reminded commissioners about a study done last year concerning fees. "We do have a study that was completed by Wade Trim last year that gave us guidelines as to what we should be charging for the use of our athletic fields throughout the county." He said the study had benchmarks in it that included information about what other counties are charging, and recommended amounts the report makers recommended for Citrus County.

He also noted that the study included a proposed fee schedule for all county facilities, to include fees for public boat ramps. The study also noted what other similarly sized counties were charging in terms of users' fees to help defray operating costs.

"We're at like 2 percent or less. Other counties average from 7 to 15 percent," Thorpe told commissioners. "So, we're low."

There was no discussion by commissioners concerning widening user fees to also include a fee schedule for the use of other county facilities.

As for the matter concerning the YAO contract, it will return to the commission at a later date. Other contracts of this type will also be addressed at that time.

Discussion: