League City will now charge a fee to reserve rooms in certain public buildings, including Helen Hall Library.
What happened
On June 11, League City City Council voted unanimously to update the usage policy for the city’s public spaces at many of the city’s recreational centers, including Helen Hall Library. The update includes adding usage fees for some of the public facilities.
City documents show the new policy will apply to the following facilities:
- Public safety room at the League City Public Safety Building
- Theater and board rooms at Helen Hall Library
- Gym and meeting rooms at Hometown Heroes Park
- Gym and meeting rooms at League City Community Center
- $25 per hour for residents and $37.50 per hour for nonresidents, plus a $50 deposit for use of the public safety room at the League City Public Safety Building
- $40 per hour for residents and $60 per hour for nonresidents, plus a $50 deposit for use of the theater room at Helen Hall Library
- $25 per hour for residents and $37.50 per hour for nonresidents, plus a $25 deposit for use of the boardroom at Helen Hall Library
The conditions
The public will still be able to use these spaces for free when they are unoccupied, on a first-come, first-served basis, but they must surrender the space for city-sponsored activities or to residents who have reserved the space, according to the policy.
The public may apply online to reserve rooms no more than six months in advance and no less than seven days in advance, according to the policy.
What they’re saying
League City's Parks Board, 4B Industrial Development Board and Library Board all unanimously approved the fee update prior to the vote, city staff said.
“It took a while to craft something that could meet everybody’s needs, but what this policy, in essence, does is it brings uniformity to how our public spaces are utilized,” a member of the city staff said at the meeting.
Council member Tom Crews voted to adopt the new policy but said he didn’t like charging the public a fee to use public facilities.
“I'm always going to be against us charging fees to citizens for what we’ve already paid for, but if this passes ... this was the best we could get,” Crews said.
Mayor Nick Long said he supported the choice to charge fees because he felt it would help reduce taxes in the long run and place the cost burden for using the room on the person who reserves it.
“I like this a lot, and I think ... I keep going back to this thing and fees for something you’ve already paid for. ... The exact reason you charge a fee is to allocate the cost of the person consuming the good, so in this case, you’re not paying for the room, you’re paying for the right to reserve it,” Long said.
What else?
Community Impact previously reported City Council voted on Jan. 9 to adopt a $50 annual household library usage fee in response to the library’s capacity and overhead challenges.
