Shelbyville council member hits Rec Center costs hard

The city is looking into ways to make Shelbyville's recreation center to pay for itself, after criticism from a council member over its operational expenses.

On Tuesday, Councilman Lee Roy Cunningham called the recreation center a "white elephant" that doesn't pay for itself and said it needs to be run "so it doesn't lose so much money."

Cunningham claimed that the center loses between $30,000 and $80,000 per month and he wants to "get someone else to run it," and take whatever money is saved to invest in an industrial park "so we can get some jobs in here."

Council member Jo Ann Holland said that when organizations from other cities see Shelbyville's recreation center, they wish their communities had such a facility.

"I agree that it's great, but it just costs too much to operate," Cunningham said. "It shouldn't be costing that much."

He asked why, given that there are two private gyms in town operated as for-profit businesses, the recreation center should not break even.

However, council member Kay Rose countered Cunningham's argument, saying that the clubs are "not available to the general public" and that the center is a service the city provides to taxpayers like police and fire protection.

Rose said it was cost effective for many in the community to use the city's facilities who might not be able to afford what the commercial gyms charge. The other option is to raise the prices at the center, Rose said.

Councilman Al Stephenson said that the center lost $66,000 in May.

City manager Ed Craig said that the city has already been looking into methods to save money, but added that the cost ratio is typical for a town Shelbyville's size.

Craig said the center recovers about 25 percent of its expenses, which is not atypical, and can recover anywhere from 25 to 100 percent, depending on how they are operated.

"When you have a recreation center in a place like Germantown, which is a very affluent community, they ... recover 100 percent of its costs," Craig explained. "In rural communities that aren't as affluent and have a different demographic, 25 percent is not unusual."

Craig said that both the views of Cunningham and Rose were valid -- while the center only recovers 25 percent of the costs, the city is also providing services for its citizens by spending money "just like we spend money to provide police services or anything else."

A "thorough analysis" is currently being done of the operating costs related to the recreation center, so that the council can get a detailed explanation of what it costs to run it and what it would take to recover more funding.

However, Craig said that in order to recover more money, the city would have to charge more fees, but that would mean that many in the community would not be able to afford to pay the hiked rates.