At the June 6 Council meeting, Councilmember Rob Moore outed himself—as a pickleball player.
This was in response to a bid by Los Gatos-Saratoga Community Education and Recreation (LGS Rec) to avoid having to pay $4 a person to use Town facilities for the sport, to make things easier on seniors struggling to balance their budget.
“I like pickleball,” Moore said, “and I’m less than 55.”
The revelation was part of a discussion about whether to waive some use and maintenance fees for LGS Rec, which won hundreds of thousands of dollars in rent reductions over the course of the pandemic.
LGS Rec is being charged $3.36 per hour in “park use fees,” to access Blossom Hill Park, Creekside Park, La Rinconada Park and Oak Meadow Park. That’s less than the $5.43 per hour Los Gatos Little League pays, and far below the $11.58 per hour Los Gatos United Soccer pays—not to mention the $23.12 per hour Red Hawks Lacrosse is required to fork over.
But the organization gets the most use out of the facilities, as the other three groups use fewer than 2,000 hours each a year.
Of the 4,607 hours LGS Rec spends in Los Gatos facilities annually, 671 of these are for pickleball (about 15%).
Approximately 4,300 people partake in the LGS Rec programs in question, compared to 350 Los Gatos United Soccer players, 200 Little Leaguers and 125 Red Hawks Lacrosse members.
The projected facility fees per group recommended by staff came out to $17,200 for LGS Rec, $1,400 for Los Gatos United, $800 for Los Gatos Little League and $500 for Red Hawks Lacrosse.
Speaking during public comment, Nancy Rollett, LGS Rec’s executive director, said giving pickleball players a break is a way to improve the quality of life for seniors, since no one really plays pickleball—at least during their sessions—who is younger.
“In our experience, pickleball players are always over the age of 55,” she said. “We have a mechanism…as part of our enrollment and payment processing that we can affirm that, provide reports on it.”
Plus, Rollett said, the amount the Town would collect from pickleball enthusiasts ($2,254) would be really insignificant.
Moore probed about why the organization isn’t charging participants who play the sport.
“What is the constraint that you’re not able to charge for these programs?” he asked.
“It’s a software system constraint,” Rollett replied. “It’s simply that we don’t have a mechanism within our enrollment software system to specifically allocate a dollar amount towards a specific program that is used to assess a facility fee.”
‘In our experience, pickleball players are always over the age of 55’
—Nancy Rollett, LGS Recreation executive director
That’s because the app was designed for recreation departments that don’t have to pay for the use of facilities, she said.
Rollett claimed creating a workaround would be prohibitively expensive.
Mayor Maria Ristow pushed back on this line of argument, saying when she plays volleyball through LGS Rec, they’re able to take her money.
Rollett said that’s different, because that activity is organized through one of the local school districts.
Like Moore, Ristow also struggled to come to terms with the idea that younger people won’t choose to play the paddle-and-ball activity alongside their older adult friends, neighbors and family members.
“I don’t know,” she mulled. “Based on the people I know who play pickleball, it’s not exclusively a senior program. And I don’t think it’s restricted to seniors.”
Moore said there are more youthful players than one might think.
“One of my best friends is an avid pickleball player, and he’s my age,” he said. “I think that this is a really nominal fee. And we’ve already given Los Gatos-Saratoga Rec hundreds of thousands of dollars. And so, I think we can expect them to pay this $2,200…It’s funny that we’re having this conversation about such a small dollar amount.”
Vice Mayor Mayor Badame said she was supportive of giving LGC Rec a reduction.
Moore made the motion to adopt the Annual Park Use Fees as recommended by Town Staff (including the 671 hours for pickleball). The mayor seconded it.
The vote was 4-1 with Badame dissenting.
Moore also made the motion to approve staff’s recommendation on the Annual Facility Maintenance Fee (including the $4 per person charge, as suggested by staff).
The mayor seconded it and the motion passed unanimously.
The vote to execute the overall agreement with LGS Rec was also unanimous.
