By Barbara Behrendt, Times Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
BROOKSVILLE — Youth leagues won't be paying for use of the county's athletic fields after all.
The Hernando County Commission voted Tuesday to instead pay for maintenance costs by taking $115,000 from interest earned on the county's judicial center fund and cutting another $115,000 from parks and recreation expenses.
The commission approved the field fees in August for the budget year that began Oct. 1. But in early October, after negative reaction to the $10-per-hour charge, commissioners suspended the fees and began meeting with youth league officials. They settled on a $20-per-player per-season fee.
Officials estimated that those fees would have generated about $229,400 to help pay for field maintenance, and that was the figure the commission worked to reach.
Commissioners balked at charging either the field or the per-player fees, saying more county spending ...