Referendum Information
Facilities
Virtual Town Hall Meetings
FAQ
How to Vote
2020 Recreation & Athletics Facility Fee
The 2020 Recreation & Athletics Facility Fee will be used to support the maintenance and operations of the expanded facilities provided by the 2020 Project. The project did not provide funding for the operation of these new recreation and athletic facilities.
The maintenance and operations of these facilities includes utilities, chemicals and annual maintenance and operation costs required by the 2020 Project for annual maintenance and long term renewal of the facilities. The facilities supported by this fee are:
- Aquatics Center
- Recreation Field
- Bobcat Field
- Outdoor Basketball Courts
- Outdoor Tennis Courts
In addition, this fee would fund a study to determine the cost to add sports lighting to the Outdoor Basketball and Outdoor Tennis Courts and if funding is available, would provide for the installation of and operation of the sport lighting.
The current Recreation Fee was not designed to support the facilities added by the 2020 Project as it currently supports the debt service, operations and maintenance of the Joseph Edward Gallo Recreation Center and the Student Activities and Athletics Center (SAAC).
With the passing of this fee, students will have access to the facilities during the posted open recreation periods during the semester. These hours will vary by facility and time of year. Failure to pass this fee will require students to purchase memberships each semester in order to utilize these facilities.
Background
The 2020 Project has brought several new and much needed recreation and athletics facilities to the campus, but the departments must pay to maintain and operate these facilities. These costs to operate these facilities are significant and they have a considerable impact to the Recreation & Athletic Department budget. The current Recreation Fee cannot support these additional costs.
The entire student body would benefit from this fee through the access provided to the new 2020 Project recreation & athletics facilities. All graduate and undergraduate students would have access to these facilities with this fee in place.
Competitive Sports Fee Increase
The increase in the Competitive Sports Fee would provide for an increase in funding to support the competitive sports programs (intramural sports, sport clubs and intercollegiate athletics) within the Recreation & Athletics Department. For intramural sports, the fee increase will allow for the intramural entry fees to be maintained at an affordable level to help ensure access to intramural sports by as many students as possible. For sport clubs, the fee would provide additional allocation funds for the clubs to keep individual dues as affordable as possible, and would support growth of additional sport clubs on campus. In addition, the increased fee would provide funding to continue to provide an athletic trainer for the sport club program as the UC Office of the President grant providing this position has ended. This is a key position to help ensure the health and wellbeing of our sport club athletes.
The fee would also support the growth of the intercollegiate athletics program. The conference has grown dramatically since we joined in 2011. The Cal Pac Conference grew from a seven team Northern California Conference to a 15 team California, Nevada and Arizona Conference, increasing the cost of travel to conference games and has increased the amount of time required for coaching. Due to the increased travel time and coaching responsibilities, we have had to hire full time coaches as opposed to part time. The additional costs to travel out of state for conference travel and for more conference games has had an impact on the current budgets. This fee increase would provide the funding to support these changes. In addition, the teams continue to be competitive nationally, which increases travel cost to attend conference and NAIA national championship competitions. This fee would provide financial support for this additional travel to allow for more appropriate modes of travel to reduce risk and reduce missed class time. The fee would continue to provide for free admission to home athletic events for undergraduate students, who, with the growth of the program, have access to more home athletic events currently than when the fee was implemented. These funds would also support the addition of two new varsity sports in the future.
Background
The Competitive Sports Fee was passed by undergraduate students in 2011 to provide funding for sport clubs, intramural sports, and varsity intercollegiate sports. Both intramural sports and sport clubs continue to grow in terms of student participation and number of clubs. To maintain affordability for the students who participate in the intramural and sport club programs, we continue to need more funding to support these programs. We have been provided short term funding from the UC Office of the President, which has expired, for athletic training staff to support club sport athletes and funding is needed at the campus level to continue this valuable service for our sport club athletes.
When athletics began competition, there were seven schools in the conference all in Northern California. Now there are 15 schools from Northern California, to San Diego, to Arizona and Nevada causing a significant increase in travel for our teams. In addition, our teams have proven to be very competitive at a conference and NAIA national level creating additional travel expenses for conference tournaments and NAIA National Championship events. In addition to the increased travel costs, we have had to make more of the coaches full time to manage all of the expectations around travel for competition and practice requirements for the growing and competitive conference.
Along with the increased costs from the growth of all the programs supported by the current Competitive Sports Fee, we continue to face increased mandated charges from the campus for administrative overhead which were not in place when the original fee was developed. These administrative fees continue to grow annually, without an increase in the student fee revenue.
These programs impact a large number of students Including 170 sport club student athletes, 150 varsity student athletes, 845 students who participate in intramural sports, 180+ students who work in the Recreation & Athletics Departments in support of these programs and the over 4,000 students who attend athletic events. These programs benefit a significant percentage of the student body and they provide school spirit as well as regional and national exposure to UC Merced.
The Recreation & Athletics Department continues to actively seek additional funding opportunities through sponsorships, donors and revenue generation. While we continue to be successful in these areas, the costs to operate these programs is too significant to be supported through just the generation of outside revenue. While we continue to make this a priority for the department, the additional student fee to support these programs is the best course of action.
Without this increase to the Competitive sports Fee, programs within the Recreation & Athletics Department would see increased user fees (intramural entry fees, sport club participation fees) and could possibly see reduction in programs which are valued and utilized by many UC Merced students.
Facilities
Virtual Town Hall Meetings
Wednesday, April 15 - 4:00pm
Register in Advance:https://ucmerced.zoom.us/meeting/register/uJUkcOGvqDkuGd9WnW_suzeCk0rc5N...
Thursday, April 16 - 3:00pm
Register in Advance: https://ucmerced.zoom.us/meeting/register/uZYud-GurzojOZhawLP-AmFkt9U_uy...
*After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
FAQ
Why are there two items on the ballot for Recreation and Athletics?
One item is to support the operations of new facilities within our program and the other is to increase support for our competitive sports programs. Since the two items are not closely related to each other, we are required to present them to students as two separate items.
What will the 2020 Recreation & Athletics Facility Fee fund?
This new fee will fund the maintenance and operation of the five new 2020 recreation facilities (Bobcat Field, Recreation Field, Aquatics Center, Outdoor Basketball and Outdoor Tennis Courts). This includes maintenance, staffing and any other operational costs to have the facilities available for student use. These costs are not included in the campus 2020 Project and is the responsibility of the department. The current Recreation Fee was not developed to support the additional costs of new facilities, so additional funding sources are needed.
Why is there a need to increase the current Competitive Sports Fee?
The increase in the Competitive Sports Fee is needed to support the growth in the competitive sports programs and to maintain access to these programs at an affordable level for students. The club sports program continues to receive requests for new clubs, which require additional funding from the department to support their operations. In addition to the growth in the club sports program, the UC Office of the President has provided funding for an Athletic Trainer assigned to club sports to help in the management and reduction of concussion amongst those student athletes. This funding is coming to an end and we feel this is a critical item to continue to fund. It is also our goal to use the additional funding to support the continued growth of the intramural sports program without increasing entry fees. This fee would hold them at a steady current state. It would also support the significant growth and continued success of our intercollegiate athletics program. Our conference has grown from seven schools in Northern California, to 15 schools in Northern California, Nevada, Southern California and Arizona. This additional required team travel has greatly increased our costs for athletic operations. Along with this extra travel, our teams have experienced tremendous success at the conference and national level. Post season games at the conference and national level are costly for the program, while providing great national exposure for UC Merced.
Why are new fees needed when Recreation & Athletics already collects two fees?
The two fees currently in place, Recreation Fee and Competitive Sports Fee, support current programs and facilities. They were not structured to provide the financial support for the additional 2020 Project facilities the department is now responsible for paying. In addition, costs associated with conducting the competitive sports programs (Intramural sports, Sport Clubs, Intercollegiate Athletics) have increased dramatically where the current fees cannot support the current level of operations. The costs to operate facilities and programs on campus continue to increase due to increased minimum wage, increased utility costs and increased maintenance costs and the fees supporting current operations do not have any mechanism for increases to keep pace with the increased costs of business.
What is Return to Aid?
Return to Aid means that 25 percent of the proposed student fee will be returned to financial aid to support those students who receive need-based aid on campus.
How many students will this benefit?
The 2020 Recreation and Athletics Fee will benefit the entire student body through providing opportunities for students to use the Aquatics Center for lap swim and recreation activities, the Recreation Field for open recreation and recreation activities, the Outdoor Tennis and Basketball courts for open recreation and program activities. It will also benefit the over 1,000 students who participate in intramural sports or are a member of a sport club along with the 150 varsity student athletes. In addition, the over 4,000 students who attend athletic events and the more than 180 student employees of Recreation & Athletics would benefit from the expanded programs and services. Currently over 55% of the student body utilizes Recreation & Athletics programs and facilities and this would increase the programs and facilities available for student use.
What happens if one, or both of the fess do not pass?
If the 2020 Recreation & Athletics Facility Fee does not pass, students will have to purchase memberships, similar to faculty/staff and the community, to utilize the new facilities (Aquatics Center, Recreation Field, Outdoor Tennis and Basketball Courts). These new facilities do not come with campus based funding to provide for the maintenance and operations of them; this must be provided through student fees and/or membership revenue. In the absence of new student fee revenue to support the facility operations, we would need to charge membership fees to generate funding to provide for the maintenance and operations of the facilities.
If the increase to the Competitive Sports Fee does not pass, it would also lead to potential increases in entry fees for intramural sports programs, potential fees charged to sport club members and a reduction in funding for sport club programs. It could also lead to a reduction in growth of the intercollegiate athletics program.
How to Vote
The online platform used for the elections process is CatLife. Active undergraduate students will receive a message from CatLife prompting them to view the sample ballot on April 11th. The sample ballot will include all of the referendum proposals and ballots for executive and senate positions. Students will have a week to review full proposals and candidate personal statements before voting in the official elections. Official elections are slated to begin on April 20 at 10am and end at 10pm on April 24.
