By Gretchen Webster

WESTPORT — Parks and Recreation Department fees for youth basketball, ice skating and pickleball lessons this fall and winter and for swimming instruction next spring have been increased as part of the agency’s “cost-recovery” program.

The higher fees, given final approval by the Board of Selectwomen on Wednesday, range from $10 more for the ice skating program to a $95 hike for “Introduction to Competitive Swimming.”

Cost recovery — a component of the department’s financial sustainability policy — is designed to generate enough income from fees so the programs pay for themselves.

The cost for each program is based on the skill category that a particular program falls into, as well as costs incurred for each program, Parks and Recreation Director Jennifer Fava told the selectwomen.

Fees for the beginner basketball program for pre-schoolers and kindergartners, for example, will cost less than programs for more advanced skill levels, such as the grade 9-12 basketball program. The higher skill-level programs include “more class time and more hours of the program,” which cost the department more to run, Fava said.  

The cost of winter pickelball lessons increased because the lessons take place at the Northeast Athletic Center in Norwalk, which recently increased rental fees assessed to the town.

Even though some fees for fall programs are increasing more than others, “all our fees are still being reasonable,” she said. Cost to take the competitive swim program, although it has increased the most, still will rise “from $5.42 per class to less than $10 per class,” she said.

The cost-recovery program requires that 100 percent of the costs for some of the more competitive programs be recouped by the department, she said.

The town entered into an agreement last November with the technology firm Amilia Technologies USA Inc. for a software system and consulting guidance to help Parks and Recreation Department officials formulate the best ways to cover the department’s expenses. The technology, which costs the town a $2,000 annual contract fee and a $300 monthly licensing fee, is designed to analyze costs and revenues, including debt services and overhead costs, Fava said when the contract was approved by the selectwomen. 

The new, higher fall and winter program fees comprise one of the first steps in the cost-recovery program, and other increases will be considered as the seasons progress, Fava said.

“We’ll be back to talk about raising additional fees,” she told the selectwomen.

The Board of Selectwomen voted to approve the fall program fee increases unanimously without any comments from the selectwomen or the public.

Freelance writer Gretchen Webster, a Fairfield County journalist and journalism teacher for many years, was editor of the Fairfield Minuteman newspaper for 10 years and teaches journalism at Southern Connecticut State University.