Council members expressed support for a 15% rate increase to membership rates for McKinney residents.
The gist
The Apex Centre is a city-owned, 80,000-square-foot recreation center featuring fitness equipment, indoor and outdoor pools, basketball courts, and more, according to the city’s website.
The facility, which opened in 2017, currently has over 16,000 individual members, Apex Centre Manager Erica Lyght said at the meeting. That number rises to over 18,000 in peak months during the summer, she said. Of the total members, 89% are McKinney residents, according to the presentation.
The membership rates at the facility haven’t increased since 2019, but the city’s expenditures for the facility have. The biggest expense is payroll, followed by building maintenance, fitness equipment replacements and utilities.
“Our membership rates have remained the same while our expenditures have constantly increased,” Lyght said. “We're not able to generate enough revenue to cover the fast increasing expenditures that are coming at us.”The proposed 15% increase to all membership rates would generate about $670,000 in additional revenue each year, according to the presentation.Diving deeper
The facility, which averages 40,000 visits each month, is in need of various repairs, including replastering of the pools.
“The aging building ... is 7 years old,” Lyght said. “Other things like water heaters and things like that will also need to be replaced pretty soon.”
The facility is also expected to see the addition of an outdoor fitness court that will expand the capacity of the space. City staff has installed upgrades and made repairs to the facility, including the addition of a dry sauna, a new cabana near the outdoor pool and new flooring.
What they’re saying
The plan presented by city staff included a flat 15% rate increase to both resident and nonresident rates.
Council members expressed support rate increase of 15% for resident memberships but said they want to pursue a higher increase for nonresident memberships.
“[The Apex Centre] is a project that we took on when I was on [the McKinney Community Development Corp. board], and coming up with a facility that would be a cost neutral facility was really important,” McKinney Mayor George Fuller said. “We have achieved that, but without increasing rates in this inflationary period for five years, obviously we are at risk of not having a cost neutral facility.”
The nonresident rates are currently between 17%-27% more expensive for monthly memberships and 18%-28% more expensive for annual memberships than resident rates, according to the city’s website. Council member Patrick Cloutier proposed a 25% increase to nonresident rates.
“We have got an increasing population with some demand for this thing, but we do not have an increasing supply anytime soon,” Cloutier said. “If I could make it less comfortable for nonresidential families to be members here and leave those spots open for residents, to me, that is a good thing.”
Looking ahead
McKinney Parks and Recreation staff are working to update the rate increase structure following feedback from council members and are expected to present updated rates at a future meeting, Assistant Parks and Recreation Director Ryan Mullins said in an email.
The timeline for implementation of any rate increases will be determined following action by council members. If the rate increases are approved, there will be “ample advertisement timelines” by the city prior to the implementation of the new rates, Mullins said.
For more information on the Apex Centre, visit www.mckinneytexas.org/1315/apex-centre.
