1C, Recreation Fee Assistance Program

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2 • Each individual in a qualifying family will receive full assistance up to $40. • Events, trips or activities that require the purchase of a ticket or payment to another service provider are not eligible for fee assistance. This includes the following programs: Sports camps, specialized drama and science camps and field trips. • To qualify for fee assistance, the family must be eligible for the free or reduced lunch program at school or receive public assistance. • The family must provide documentation (school district letter, WIC card, or other form) that they are on the free or reduced lunch program for the current year or other public assistance program. • In the event a participant cannot attend the activity/class they registered for, they must provide the Parks and Recreation Department at least a 24 hour notice. For ongoing programs (such as a 6-9 week class), they must attend 75% of the class sessions to remain eligible for future fee assistance. One area that staff would like Council input on is our after school program offerings. Often times, we have non-residents participating in our after school programs at Island Lake Elementary and Valentine Hills Elementary that request fee assistance. I have not encountered a policy that includes non-residents. However, we have a unique situation in that we have a large number of nonresident participants of our class in need of assistance that would not be able to get assistance for our programs due to the residency requirements. There are a lot of offerings for students specifically for each individual school. If Council is interested, a clause could be put in there that would allow scholarships for after school classes as long as they are a student at that school. This could be created to have similar fee limits per quarter. Budget The City of Arden Hills does not have a designated fund for fee assistance. The Parks and Recreation revenue in the general fund is reduced by each fee assistance request. On average, we receive anywhere from 5-10 fee assistance requests per year. The fee for each of these requests will vary but the annual assistance awarded is usually under $500. Recommendation Staff is looking for Council input in order to bring back a revised Recreation Program Fee Assistance Program Policy for Council review and approval at a future meeting. Attachments A — Current Fee Assistance Application Form B — Proposed Recreation Fee Assistance Program Guidelines C — Proposed Recreation Fee Assistance Application Form I (Metro-inet. us I ardenhills I PR&PWW Parks (Memos I Council Memos 1122109 Recreation Program Fee Assistance Policy. doc