Yep, its a beautiful thing to think about when we pay our amenity fees.

couldn't agree more. Like tossing a hand grenade in the room. I'd love to see how a dollar is divided amongst all the sports activities

Some supply their own uric acid.

Golfers play with their own balls. They don’t share. Pickleballers share balls in a foursome. So who supplies the balls? What if one or two people don’t have any? What if some guy leaves before the others and takes his with him? Plus, pickleballs are easily scratched. Some people don’t like scratched balls.

Take a look at the budget for amenities portion of the Sumter Landing CDD. This does not list each of the activities but some high-level numbers are:

Total amenities budget: $146.7M
Community Watch: $8.4M (5.4%)
Golf: $4M. (2.7%)
Pool Maintenance: $3.5M (2.4%)
Recreation Supplies: $0.4M (0.27%)

Pickleballs are probably part of the Recreation Supplies which might also include Bocce balls, corn hole bags, table shuffleboard sand, pool noodles, water weights, etc. At $142K the pickleballs account for 1/3 the Recreation supplies or 0.097% of the overall amenities budget.

There's tennis balls in the shed at our courts. But people usually prefer to bring their own.

thank you for that prescient information. Proves how off the mark the original point was.

Our club uses green pickleballs, so we bring our own. Don't blame us.

Pickleballs
 

Do you mow the fairways, greens, fix sand traps? Do you re-cover billiards tables regularly? Do you provide your own Mahjong set every time you play?
Just asking…amenities are there for all of us. If you choose not to join an activity, that’s on you.

This amount is peanuts/rounding error compared to the cost of:

* golf course maintenance and repair
* hiring all employees at golf course starter shacks and ambassadors
* maintenance of ALL pools
* cost of nightly entertainment for a month

Rec department tried about 6 years ago with engage balls (which I’m sure they got good deal with bulk order?) which was better than duralast 40s, but old guard Pickleball community complained and they switched back to dura last with month or two. Different younger crowd now maybe they will accept better balls? Still got lot of old crowd influencers that may muck up the change?

Unfortunately not everyone leaves the pickle balls in the courts. We have seen people steal them. Yes, it is stealing

Time for user fees? Amenities for all is like the pigs in Animal Farm saying, "Everyone is equal but some are more equal than others."

In what way are some more equal than others today? The amenity fees appear to cover the costs of the different amenities. Some cost more, some cost less, but all get what they require.

User fees would really create a "some more equal than others" situation. We all live here, we are all entitled to the same amenities, we all can participate in what we want, BUT ONLY IF we can afford the additional user fees. We are all equal but those who can afford it would be more equal than others.

I consider those people equal to the people who don’t pickup after their pets. _____ fill in blank with appropriate word. No morels or thinking they are entitled. And then they’re those that will do what they want regardless.

ok, how about buying me some golf balls?