Kroc Center to raise membership rates

COEUR d'ALENE - The Ray and Joan Kroc Community Center will raise membership rates on Oct. 1, in response to an expected 2011 budget loss of $400,000.

The price hikes will vary from $1 to $7 per month, depending on the membership package.

Since the doors opened in May 2009, the $35 million facility has added staff, equipment and programs, while the costs of water and energy have continued to rise, according to a Kroc Center newsletter.

"The cost of doing business gets more expensive every year," said executive director John Chamness. "Our goal is just to break even. We are not in the profit-making business."

The projected operating budget for 2011 is about $7.9 million. Membership dues, rental and program fees, donations and a $1.5 million endowment from The Salvation Army provide income. Membership has risen to more than 18,000 people, Chamness said - far more than management anticipated when the building first opened.

But every day the Kroc Center spends $2,700 on utilities, pays its staff $13,000 and goes through 11,000 gallons of water, Chamness noted. With so many members using the pools, exercise machines and showers, it costs more than $21,000 per day to keep the facility up and running.

"Water and electricity are some of the biggest (expenses) at the Kroc Center," Chamness said.

In 2011, the Kroc predicts it will spend $4.9 million on payroll alone.

"We've gone through incredible changes in the last year," Chamness said. "We opened with 70 employees, and we've now gone to 275 employees. We put together a really good business plan (before we opened), but like anything, it was kind of a shot in the dark as we had no idea how the community would respond."

For the most part, he said, Kroc members have understood why the rate increase is necessary. Many Kroc Center patrons will see very little difference when their bills arrive in October. Adult silver members, for example, will only pay $1 more. Some gold family members, though, could see their rate go up from $72 to $79 per month.

"I think that the increase is reasonable given the facility," said Cindy Spence, from Rathdrum, who joined the Kroc Center more than a year ago. "I was surprised at the increase, because of the fact that they have way over the enrollment that they expected to have. I'm not at all angry about it. I think it's reasonable."

Coeur d'Alene resident Dave Adlard stopped by the Kroc Center on Friday to sign up for a membership. "Even if it raises, I still think it's a pretty good deal," Adlard said.

Troy Tymesen, finance director for the city of Coeur d'Alene and a Kroc Center advisory board member, declined to comment on the facility's financial situation. He did say that the city hopes for the continued success of the Kroc Center.