Rec leagues protest big increase in field use fees

By Doug Spoon, Editor

Leaders of recreation leagues in Menifee are speaking about what they say are unfair field use fees for the coming season.

Valley-Wide Recreation & Park District recently informed leagues using its facilities of fee increases that some say could cost families an additional $100 or more per child to participate in 2024.

One of the most vocal leagues is Menifee Pony Baseball, which is spreading the word on social media and asking members to attend an Oct. 16 meeting of the Valley-Wide board to protest the increase. Ernesto Escobedo, present of Menifee Pony Baseball, estimates that the league will be asked to pay $92,000 more to Valley-Wide in its spring season next year.

“Valley-Wide is going to start charging us $20 an hour for every hour of every field we use,” Escobedo wrote in a Facebook post. “Currently we pay zero; it's always been zero. We pay for lights and field prep. “It's not too rare but also not too common for cities to charge usage fees to its local user groups, and when they do it's generally something like $5 an hour. Most cities around us charge zero. Menifee City Parks is $5.”

Valley-Wide controls parks east of the 215 Freeway – an area that includes many of the biggest sports complexes in Menifee, including Wheatfield Park and Lago Vista Sports Park. Valley-Wide’s control of those parks was unsuccessfully challenged by the City of Menifee, which controls parks on the west side of the freeway.

A study of the rate increase is complex. Although Valley-Wide has confirmed that field use will increase to $20 an hour, it reports that it is already charging local youth groups $10 an hour – not zero, as Escobedo claims. But Escobedo admits that Menifee Pony pays for lights and field preparation, which Valley-Wide may be including as field usage.

That’s difficult to say, because Valley-Wide general manager Dean Wetter did not respond to direct questions from Menifee 24/7. A chart provided via email shows that actual field and maintenance cost to Valley-Wide is $843 per day ($76.62 an hour) and that field and lights use are separate items.

“The district has not increased field and facility rental rates in many years, and the cost of maintaining and operating these facilities have increased significantly in recent years,” stated a Valley-Wide news release announcing the rate increase. “This is due to factors such as inflation, utilities, contract services, insurance and the need to make capital improvements at aging facilities.

“The new field rental rates still are well below the cost of providing the service, and the district will continue to offer discounts for resident groups and other nonprofit organizations.”

A rate sheet Valley-Wide sent to Menifee 24/7 shows rates of $20 an hour for field use and $20 an hour for lights, plus $5.50 an hour for use of the snack bar and $55 for field preparation ($110 on Saturday).

Escobedo says much of the field prep has been left to the individual leagues since longtime Valley-Wide recreation supervisor Vince Valdez retired last year. He said Valdez made sure crews re-chalked the field for every game. This fall, he said, it is only chalked once a day, first thing in the morning.

“Vince never would’ve let this happen,” Escobedo said. Valdez did not return a call seeking comment for this article.

Valley-Wide did not respond to the increased numbers league officials say they will have to pay in their next season. Those officials have made the estimated numbers readily available on social media.

“This may not sound like a ton, but we use 260 hours of VW fields per week,” Escobedo wrote in a Facebook post. “This comes to $5,200 a week. Our spring season is 16 weeks long; this is about $83,000. In one season! In addition to that, lights fees are going up by 33 percent and field prep is doubling.

“Combine all of this and based on this spring’s numbers we'd be paying $92,000 MORE. In one season! About $96 per child on average. So basically, unless we can get VW to back off of this, spring registrations will be $100 higher.”

Similar concerns have been expressed in social media posts by Menifee Girls softball.

“I’m sure a lot of you have already heard the news regarding the Valley-Wide price increases set to take effect in Spring 2024. Like you and our friends who manage other non-profit sports leagues in Menifee and French Valley, we are frustrated and scared for the future of our programs,” wrote Melinda Moss, president of Menifee Girls Softball.

“The new fee schedule will raise our field costs from $9,000 a season to over $50,000 a season. This is significantly more than any sports league in our neighboring cities is paying to rent fields in their city. As a non-profit, we pour every registration dollar back into our girls. With this hefty of a field increase, it will force us to increase our spring registration to $300 per player. For recreational sports, this is just not acceptable.”

It's not just youth leagues that will be affected. Bob Fuhrmann of Menifee Senior Softball League expressed similar concerns.

“Two years ago, the park authority advised us they were going to ‘fix’ the two fields (1 and 3) that we use every Tuesday and Thursday morning [at Wheatfield Park] year-round. Unfortunately, they are still not fixed and it is a safety concern for us seniors aged 55 plus up to the 80's. We have approximately 120 seniors with about about 50 percent of us veterans. We have been paying about $300 per season in set-up fees.

This increase will now move from the $300 a season to $9,900.”

Fuhrmann said he requested a private meeting with Wetter. A meeting did take place with Wetter and a Valley-Wide assistant, he said. According to Fuhrmann, the meeting didn’t help his situation.

“Dean suggested we cut back the number of our teams,” Fuhrmann said. “That’s not what we’re about. We have 106 players. We get no donations and have no sponsors. Some of our players have only Social Security to live on. Now a registration fee of $50 might go to $100 or more.”

Fuhrmann also attended a meeting of the Valley-Wide board last week, along with representatives of Menifee Pony Baseball and AYSO soccer. Several of them spoke, but per protocol, board members only listened and did not respond.

Escobedo, Moss, Fuhrmann and others are urging supporters to attend the next Valley-Wide meeting, which will take place Oct. 16 at 5:30 p.m. at the Valley-Wide District office, 901 W. Esplanade Ave. in San Jacinto. Meanwhile, the protest campaign continues on social media.