Reno officials are looking at raising parks and recreation fees to help with the $2.7 million the city’s department needs to pay in raises to minimum wage employees in the coming years.
The minimum wage increase signed by Gov. Steve Sisolak last year gradually raises Nevada’s minimum wage, starting with a 75-cent increase in July.
That will raise the hourly minimum wage to $8 for workers who get health insurance through their employer and $9 for those who don’t. The law will gradually raise the hourly wage to $11 for those with health benefits and $12 for those without by 2024.
Reno budget analysts have estimated that the new law will cost the city’s parks and recreation department, which relies on minimum wage workers, $2.7 million over the next five years.
The proposed increases include hiking the cost of a senior citizen day pass to a recreation center to $4 up from $1 over four years; raising softball league registration fees to $595 from $57 – and raising fees for after-school programs, swim passes, facility rentals and ultimate Frisbee games.