Rec center revenues gaining strength

Renovation, fee increase credited

The most recent $50,000 expansion of the recreation center occurred last year and included replacing circuit-training equipment and buying other equipment.

The Rossford city-owned recreation center's revenues are growing after it finished a $50,000 expansion to buy new equipment and renovate the building in summer 2011, a city official said.

The membership has increased this winter, which is the season where gyms are usually busiest compared to the warmer months.

"More and more people are really discovering us," said Ivan Kovacevic, director of the Rossford Community Recreation Center and the park department.

In 2011, the center generated about $70,000 in membership fees, compared to four years ago when the revenue was about $34,000, he said.

The most recent expansion, which took place in spring and summer of 2011, included replacing 20-year-old circuit-training equipment, converting a meeting room into a personal fitness studio, and buying equipment.

The recreation center paid for the $50,000 project with proceeds from its four-year capital improvement levy.

So far this year, the membership fee revenues are up because increased use and a 10 percent fee increase that took effect Jan. 1, Mr. Kovacevic said.

Annual fees run from $99 for an adult Rossford resident to $198 for a nonresident. A Rossford family annual membership is $150 compared with $300 for nonresident family. The center has about 1,500 members.

Membership revenue is at $11,900 in January, 2012, up about $2,000 from the same time in 2011, he said.

The rising revenue helps offset the recreation center's deficit and its reliance on the general fund to balance its budget, Mr. Kovacevic said.

Last year, the center's deficit ran about $98,000, which included about $60,000 in utility costs.