Fee Increase coming to Heckart Community Center April 1

Expect fees to go up at the Heckart Community Center on April Fools Day. And that’s no joke.

The obvious reason behind the increase is the increase in minimum wage (as of Jan. 1) affecting payroll at the Heckart and Parks & Rec in general, and the overall prices of materials that keep going up & up.

A fee increase was approved on Thursday, Feb. 12 by the Sedalia Park Board during their regular monthly meeting at the Heckart. Board Member Dan Van Dyne made the motion and Board Member Jeff Wimann seconded it.

April 1 coincides with the new budget year, as well as roughly the same time frame that the Heckart Center opened four years ago on March 21, 2022.

https://ksisradio.com/hundreds-attended-heckart-community-center-grand-opening/

A ground breaking ceremony was held June 12, 2020.

Parks & Rec Director Amy Epple noted that in 2019, minimum wage was $8.60 an hour. Now, as of Jan. 1 it is $15 an hour.

“I hate to raise fees, but we’ve got to cover our costs,” Epple told the board during Thursday night’s 35-minute meeting. “Everything across the board has gone up.”

The Heckart, which is open 101 hours every week, employs 16 staff, and sees about 700 visitors a day.

A proposed fee structure was provided to KSIS by Epple:

As a “for instance’ concerning the cost of running the Heckart, the annual lifeguard payroll there is about $525,000.

“All the fees and membership rentals that come into the Heckart is spent on the Heckart, it’s not spent on anything else in the parks system. And it goes for the payment of the facility and to operate it,” Epple explained.

She also suggested that if you come to the Heckart three times a month and pay as you go, “buy a membership. It’s so much cheaper.”

And, Epple said, if you buy a family membership, you get two months free.

“I want people using (the Heckart) and improving their quality of life, that’s what it’s all about,” she noted.