2 Elmhurst Park Facilities Need Taxpayers' Help

Elmhurst IL

14 December, 2021

12:23 PM

Description

ELMHURST, IL — The Elmhurst Park District's fitness center and its events facility used to rely on user fees alone, but now depend on taxpayers' support, a district official said recently. Courts Plus fitness center and Wilder Mansion still receive user fees, but that income cannot cover all the costs. That's where taxpayer dollars come in. "The shift will not require any increase in property taxes for the residents of the community," Jim Rogers, the park district's executive director, said in his State of the Park District address. In an email to Patch on Tuesday, Rogers said Courts Plus and the Wilder Mansion will receive a 12 percent subsidy from taxes to offset their operational costs, totaling just less than $373,000. After Courts Plus started four decades ago, it faced no major competition from health clubs for the first 25 years, Rogers said. Now, it has a half dozen big competitors, he said in his address. "Courts Plus is no longer able from a financial perspective to function as a profit maker for the park district and community like it used to," Rogers said. For some residents, he said, such a shift to taxpayers' support is a concern. But he said he likes to point out that the district's Wagner Community Center and The Abbey senior center have long relied on a mix of user fees and taxes. "Another one of the reasons we are doing this is because even if (Courts Plus) can't continue to operate as a profit center, we still serve thousands of people at Courts Plus, and it is a very valued amenity in this community," Rogers said. All the new health clubs, he said, demonstrate the "incredible" demand for fitness opportunities.