First, I'm not an accountant, so I might be missing something in this analysis, but, a quick look at the budgets for both the VCCDD and SLCDD shows that the fitness centers are huge profit centers for the CDDs.
Here are the links (go to the bottom of each report where the fitness centers have their own section):
http://www.districtgov.org/departmen...et%20VCCDD.pdf
http://www.districtgov.org/departmen...et%20SLCDD.pdf
Note that on the actual expense/revenue results for 2008/2009 (on page 22 of the VCCDD report) that total revenue for all centers that were open in that year was $695,546 (plus some sort of transfer line item of an additional $95,689)and that total expenses were $400,707. Thus the profits were somewhere between $300,000-400,000 or almost double the expenses.
What does this mean? Even if you agree with the notion that fitness centers should not be part of the amenities covered by amenity fees, it would seem that the complaints of being over-charged for this service are valid. The rates could be roughly half of what they are and still cover expenses. Of course, lowering the fees will increase usage and hence will either result in more waits for each equipment piece or the need for more centers with a corresponding increase in expenses. It is safe to say, however, that there should be a happy medium between reduced rates and increased number of centers.
One thing that I find very interesting in looking at the budgets is the fact that the fitness centers are treated as a separate category in the overall budgets. I wonder if this is a sign of a future intent of the CDDs to eventually sell these off to a private firm. By singling out all the budget items for these centers, it makes it easy for a prospective buyer to see what the profit margins for them are (huge).