Cut Fees, Save Money

Warwick Mayor Scott Avedesian has made the seemingly counter-intuitive proposal of cutting beach fees to increase city revenue. To be more succinct, the proposal is meant to save about $12,000. Now, why would cutting fees save money?

The mayor said he recommended the action after department directors reviewed ways to cut expenditures and it was found that revenues don’t come close to covering the cost of running the seasonal program.

The action means the city will hire five less summer employees, college students chosen for city jobs through a lottery. The fees implemented in 1995 are $2 per car for residents and $3 for nonresidents. There are also seasonal passes of $10 for residents and $20 for non-residents.

“When we looked at the figures, it just no longer logically made sense to keep this in place,” Avedisian said, noting that last year’s revenues were approximately $12,000 and personnel and other costs totaled around $24,000.

I wonder how many other revenue "generating" programs actually take in less revenue than that required to pay the salaries and benefits of those who collect said fees?