Municipal officials are adding a new category to those who get discounted fees for using popular town facilities such as the Steve Benko Pool at Waveny and pickleball courts at Mead Park.
Following a unanimous vote by the Board of Selectmen at its most recent meeting, veterans will now enjoy the same discounts as seniors, including free access to Kiwanis Park and $80 season passes to the pool, Mead Park pickleball and tennis courts and Waveny paddle tennis courts.
Parks & Recreation Director John Howe, in proposing an updated slate of fees to the selectmen at the Nov. 18 meeting, called it “the biggest change” to the rates.
“We added a ‘veterans pass’ where we’ll give veterans a discount to the regular individual rates,” Howe told the selectmen at the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference.
Noting that the new veterans discount came out of a request at a Parks & Recreation Commission meeting, Howe said, “We never had anything separating it out [before].”
The addition of the veterans category came amid an overall discussion of proposed fees for Parks & Rec facilities. In addition to the new veterans discount, here are the rates that are seeing changes:
Parks & Rec Fee Changes
*Source: Parks & Recreation Department
Revenue/Fee Name Description Former Amount New Amount
Steve Benko Pool Nonresident family pass $1,350 $1,450
Nanny pass $140 $150
Kiwanis Park Family permit $30 $50
Individual permit $25 $30
Waveny Paddle Tennis Resident adult pass $140 $160
Mead Park Tennis Courts Resident adult pass $140 $160
Mead Park Pickle Ball Resident adult pass $140 $160
First Selectman Dionna Carlson and Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll voted 3-0 on the new slate of fees. They go into effect after a public posting by the town, Howe said.
“Thank you for adding the veterans pass,” Karl said. “That’s nice.”
Howe said the department is not recommending changes to Waveny House rental fees for events such as weddings.
“We did some research on other comparable venues and think we’re in line with the new bride and groom’s rooms and everything else,” he said. “So we don’t recommend any changes.”
The reason for the rise in fees for individual passes for racket spots is “so that people will go towards the family pass,” Howe said.
“If there’s a couple, instead of staying separate, they’d go as a family,” he said.
Asked by Murphy Carroll whether many people purchase multiple passes for the racket spots, Howe said that most of them do.
“Quite a few of them pick all three, but a lot of tennis and paddle together,” he said. “ And then of course, pickleball is very popular. We’ve looked at trying to have a racket sports membership. But unfortunately how the seasons overlap, when do we start it and when do we finish it? So we’d rather keep it separate like this.”
The town limits how many nonresident family passes are sold for the Steve Benko Pool. The town receives more than 200 requests per year and issues 125 to 140 of the passes.
The nonresident families that get passes are decided by lottery, Howe said, but that’s something the town is looking to change.
“It’s basically picking out of the hat, so it’s completely random,” he said. “But if you were a family member from last year, that doesn’t mean you can come back. So we’re thinking about having first refusal to the existing ones. You make friends and everything else, and then, ‘Oh, we can’t go this year.’ So it makes sense, I think.”