ANAHEIM : Council to Discuss Changing 2 Fees

The City Council on Tuesday will consider proposals to increase fees for one senior citizens program and decrease fees for adult soccer leagues.

Also, the Anaheim Police Assn., the union for the city’s rank-and-file officers, is planning to picket City Hall for the third time during the meeting.

The seniors fee the council is being asked to increase is for older residents who are left at a city facility for the day while receiving various physical and mental therapies. The new fee would be $20 a day, up from $15. The fee would be raised to $25 within a year.

Chris Jarvi, the parks and recreation director, said the increase is necessary to make the program self-supporting because the city can no longer afford the annual $117,000 subsidy it provides.

Jarvi said the soccer fee decrease was asked for by the players, who agreed to accept a lesser level of service from the city. The new fee will be $525 per team, instead of $613. In return, the players will not receive trophies for second place, officials will get less training and the fields will not be prepared as thoroughly.

“Up until recently, we had always subsidized adult sports, but when we couldn’t do that anymore, we raised the fees,” Jarvi said. “But the soccer teams thought the new fees were too high, so we came to an agreement.”

Police association officials said they are again expecting 400 officers, family members and supporters to picket the meeting, as they did twice last fall. The association, which has been working without a labor contract since 1992 and without a raise since 1991, staged a “blue flu” work stoppage last Tuesday.

The meeting begins at 5 p.m. at City Hall, 200 S. Anaheim Blvd.