Note: This story was updated to reflect that the board will be meeting this evening, Dec. 9.

Vashon Park District’s board of commissioners will vote on a proposal to adjust user fees, raising some fees and lowering others at its meeting tonight.

Commissioner Scott Harvey drafted the proposal after researching the expenses at various park facilities and determining how much user groups paid the district in comparison. He also led a public meeting about the issue last month.

“The whole premise is equality,” he said.

While Harvey first suggested raising users fees to help build a financial reserve for the district, his proposal would actually bring in $25,000 less each year than the current fee agreement. It calls for fee increases to use the park district’s fields and school district facilities and decreases in fees to use Paradise Ridge. It also calls for the district to provide more financial support to users of Ober Park and the Vashon Pool, two groups that have been carrying a higher portion of related costs.

If the proposal passes, adult field users would pay the largest fee increase: $25 per season up from $15. Youth groups that pay by the season to use field or gym space would see a 20 percent increase and pay $18 per child instead of $15, and individuals or groups wanting to use school facilities, such as the McMurray multipurpose room or a classroom, would also see a 20 percent increase.

Conversely, charges to use Paradise Ridge would be decreased by one-third.

At Ober Park, Harvey’s proposal calls for the district to invest $10,000 in providing extra services for users there, and at the Vashon Pool, Harvey said he would like to see the district budget another $10,000 to keeping the pool open an extra month, as the Friends of the Vashon Pool have proposed.

The idea to increase user fees was first proposed this summer by members of an ad hoc finance committee, which Harvey chaired. In July, the full board sent the committee’s financial plan, which indicated it would raise user fees to increase revenue and create a reserve, to the state auditor’s office, which had expressed concerns about the district’s financial health.

Some of the other commissioners, however, have disagreed with the premise that user fees be increased to bolster finances. Harvey said he changed his mind about substantial across-the-board fee increases after he listened to park patrons and their desire to see more equitable fees. Currently, he noted, Ober Park users pay more than 200 percent of their expenses, while users at Paradise Ridge pay close to 40 percent of the costs there, and field users pay only 16 percent. This proposal would bring those numbers closer together, he said. He called the $25,000 shortfall the proposal would create “a minor decrease.”

The park district is still facing financial challenges, such as completing work at the VES Fields and replacing the aging pool deck while paying down debt, and will remain on what commissioner Bill Ameling calls a “beans and rice budget” through 2015.

Still, Harvey said he believes the park district would not be hampered by the cut in revenue.

“I am confident we can take care of important things and still have money left over,” he said.

The park district commissioners will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 9. A meeting dedicated to the budget will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 16.