SR-202-001 (73)
ATTACHMENT I
ANALAYSIS OF PROPOSED FEE INCREASES
Day Camps
An analysis of the City’s Summer, Winter and Spring Day Camps has revealed that fees are
significantly below those of comparable cities.
A comparison study that examined cities as well as private nonprofit summer camps across the
Westside and South Bay confirmed that Santa Monica’s fees are extremely low. In particular,
Summer Camp offers more field trips than many of the camps as well as daily snacks. Moreover,
most of the camps are not open as long each day.
The chart below shows the weekly and hourly rates for a range of local camps that maintain
hours of operation similar to Santa Monica’s:
Weekly Hourly
City of Santa Monica (Current) $120 $2.18
City of Beverly Hills $160 $3.05
Palms Recreation Center $150 $3.00
Planet Janet (Culver City) $200 $4.00
Westwood Recreation Center $155 $3.05
Cheviot Hills/Rancho Park Recreation Center $175 $5.00
Santa Monica Proposed Fee $155$2.80
An hourly rate increase for Summer, Winter and Spring Day Camp is proposed from $2.18 to
$2.80 per hour. This results in a raise in weekly fees from $120 per week to $155 per week, an
increase of $35 per week.
Rec ‘N Crew
Staff surveyed several Southern California cities to provide a comparison structure for Rec ‘N
Crew. Of six surrounding communities surveyed, Manhattan Beach, Culver City, Malibu,
Redondo Beach Hermosa Beach and Griffith Park in the Los Feliz area, only Manhattan Beach,
which is free, and Griffith Park, which charges $30, offer any kind of “drop-in” summer recreation
program.
It needs to be noted, however, that these two programs offer considerably less to youth than does
the Rec ‘N Crew Program. In contrast to the two mentioned above, Santa Monica offers multiple
locations (five school and park sites) for the convenience of families. The quality of Rec ‘N Crew,
including the structured sports activities and focus on skill building, surpasses all other surveyed
“drop-in-style” programs.
Staff is proposing that the City increase Rec ‘N Crew fees from $25 to $50. The fee enables a
participant to use the program all summer as often as desired. Over the entire summer Rec ‘N
Crew is open for a total of 200 hours. The proposed $50 fee is the equivalent of 25 cents per
hour.
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CREST Childcare
Over the years, costs for running quality childcare programs have risen continually and
substantially. In a comparison study of comparable cities and programs, we discovered that our
fees for childcare fall well below those for other city, county and private nonprofit programs in the
Greater Los Angeles area. The City’s CREST Childcare Program currently charges $197 per
month for its full-time after-school option. In contrast, the following local cities charge
considerably higher fees:
Fee Per Month
City of Santa Monica $197
City of Beverly Hills 294
City of Culver City 225
City of Redondo Beach 260
Westchester Recreation Center 220
City of Santa Monica proposed fee $223
Each is similar in programming to CREST in that they offer snacks, homework assistance,
games, playtime, and arts and crafts and a limited amount of enrichment and fun events. When
the above-mentioned fees for comparable cities are broken down to a per-hour rate, we find that
their hourly rates are well above that for the City of Santa Monica, as follows:
Fee Per Hour
City of Santa Monica $2.60
City of Beverly Hills 4.00
City of Culver City 3.75
City of Redondo Beach 5.00
Westchester Recreation Center 4.00
Cheviot Hills/Rancho Park Recreation Center 4.00
City of Santa Monica proposed fee $3.00
It is proposed that CREST raise its hourly fee to an equivalent of $3.00 per hour, which, for full-
time after-school childcare, from 2:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. daily translates into $223 per month, an
increase of only $26 per month from our current $197 per month.
City of Santa Monica - Current Versus Proposed Fees for CREST Childcare
Current Proposed
Childcare Full-time option $197 per month $223
Childcare Part-time option $146 per month $174
Occasional Use option $ 98 per month $114
Single Full Day Care $ 28 per day $ 34
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CREST Sports
A comparison of other summer sports programs across the Westside revealed that Santa
Monica’s fees are $10 to $20 lower than fees charged by other cities for comparable programs.
The CREST Sports Program offers summer sessions that are 8 to 10 weeks in length, which is
among the longest sessions in such programs throughout the Greater Los Angeles area.
Fee Length of Session/Program
City of Santa Monica (current) $35-$45 8 to 10 week session
City of Malibu 100 10 week sports program
Venice/Penmar Park 65 8 week session (volunteer coaches)
City of Santa Clarita 60 10 week program
City of Gardena 45-60 6 to 8 week sports session
City of Beverly Hills 20 6 week session (volunteer coaches)
$50-$60
City of Santa Monica proposed fee
It should be noted that the City’s sessions are longer than those of three of the surveyed cities,
and we provide t-shirts and a trophy (many others do not). In addition, we utilize paid coaches
and game officials to run the programs. The proposed fees represent an increase of $15, and
maintain a lower fee of $50 for those youth enrolled in full-time childcare.
F:\hsd\share\infoitem\FY2001-02 Fee Increases AttachmentI.doc (June 14, 2001)
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