County to hike park fees for campsites, shelters

For the first time in more than 10 years, fees to camp, use shelters and do other activities at Ozaukee County parks will increase this year, county supervisors agreed last week.

“In the last 10 years, many of the county parks have grown or been improved,” county Planning and Parks Director Andrew Struck told members of the Natural Resources Committee. “There are a lot more amenities. There are a lot more reservable spaces.”

With the increased number and usage of county parks, expenses have risen as well, including staff and utilities, he said.

The new fee structure includes a flat nonrefundable reservation fee of $7, “which we’ve never done before,” Struck said.

That’s because the county has to pay a fee to take a reservation by credit card and then pay another credit card fee when the reservation is canceled, he said.

“We have a lot of cancellations,” he said.

Camping at Waubedonia Park in Fredonia is increasingly popular, as is the use of the H.H. Peters Youth Camp, but in both cases a study showed the county losing money at both sites.

In 2023, Waubedonia Park lost $8,713 while H.H. Peters lost $5,514.

“It wasn’t huge, but it was still a deficit,” Struck said.

Camping reservations grew to 784 in 2024 compared to 638 in 2023 and 560 in 2022.

Gross revenues from camping, including firewood sales, were $30,314.71 in 2024 compared to $23,968.85 in 2023 and $23,536.20 in 2022.

Under the new fee structure, basic camping at Waubedonia will go up from $11 to $20 and sites with electricity and water will go from $22 to $28.

The county plans to add more camping spots at Hawthorne Hills in the coming years.

H.H. Peters also is busy.

“H.H. Peters is booked every weekend in the winter and even during some week days,” Struck told the Natural Resources Committee last week.

The cost of a nonprofit group renting H.H. Peters overnight will go from $55 to $150 under the new fee schedule.

Disc golfing at Tendick Nature Park is trending downward again after picking up during the pandemic and afterward, Struck said.

“We’re trying to steer people toward season passes, which helps us and is a better deal for them,” he said.

The disc golf day rate will go from $5 to $6 while the season pass price will remain at $45.

Under the plan approved last week by the Natural Resources Committee:

• The cost of holding a cross country track event at Tendick Nature Park will go from $160 to $250.

• Renting the pavilion at Tendick Park in the Town of Saukville will go from $55 to $75 for residents.

• At River Oaks Park in the Town of Grafton, reserving the new picnic area will cost $55.

• Reserving the pavilion at Lions Den Gorge will cost $75, up from $55.

• To install a memorial bench at the yet-to-be-developed Milwaukee River Oxbow Nature Preserve in the Town of Saukville and the Ansay Family Nature Preserve in the City of Port Washington will cost $3,000. To install one at the coming Clay Bluffs Cedar Gorge Nature Preserve will cost $5,000.

• Renting one level of the Hawthorne Hills clubhouse will cost $225, up from $175.

• Renting the new multipurpose building at Hawthorne Hills for four hours will cost $225.

Struck said the fees and rates are comparable to other county, city and state parks.

“I feel comfortable” with the new fees, he said. “I may come back next year and want to adjust the fees. But looking at comparables, I think we’re good.”

Struck said the object is not to make a profit, but to cover expenses.

“We’re striving for a zero profit/loss,” Struck said.

“Especially for non-countians and recouping those costs,” Supr. Bruce Ross agreed.

Struck pointed out that Ozaukee County does not charge an entry fee to simply enter its parks, as happens in Washington and Waukesha counties.

The fees only apply to when people want to reserve a space for their exclusive use.

“Everything is open use unless you want to ensure it’s available,” for instance reserving a volleyball court next to a shelter when a party is planned, he said.

Some of the grants used to develop the county’s parks do not allow charging user fees, Struck said.

The county’s most popular park, Lions Den Gorge Nature Preserve, for instance, draws visitors from Illinois and Madison and beyond, but the grants used to develop the preserve do not permit the county to charge entry fees, Struck said.

The county has the capability of charging entry fees, if it should decide to do so, through the use of cameras and gates that already have been installed at many park entrances.

Visitors would be charged by automatically scanning windshield stickers or license plates, as is done in other counties.