Santa Barbara Supervisors Increase Park and Rec Fees

In hopes of raising an additional $700,000 to defray operating costs, the county supervisors approved a slew of proposed fee increases for camping and sport fields. Day use in parks will not be affected.

People hoping to camp out at Jalama, for example, will pay $300 a night from the current $280. Lake Cachuma costs will increase by 5 percent. That does not include an increase in booking fees — from $8 to $10 — and the 10 to 20 percent increase in RV hook-up charges.

Courthouse weddings — which fall under the purview of County Parks — will go from $900 to $1,000. The auditorium at the Lompoc Veterans Center will now cost $600 instead of $400 a night.

For groups seeking to reserve a sports field, costs could go up by as much as $350 for daily use. For tournament play, a new minimum of $1,000 will now be charged and that doesn’t include the additional $1,500 that must be ponied up in the form of security deposits.

All this, county bean counters informed the supervisors, will help cover some, but not all, the costs of providing such services. To achieve full cost recovery, the supervisors were told, would prove price prohibitive for most users.

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