New Room Rental Fees Spark Debate Over Pricing Out Community Groups
The lone civic action of the week came Monday, when the Library Board dug into a formal rental policy for its three meeting rooms: a $25 non-refundable reservation fee for everyone, a $100 setup fee for theater-style seating in the large room, and hourly rates of $50 for the medium room, $125 for the large room, and $30 for the small room. Government bodies and Larkspur-serving nonprofits would have fees waived, and insurance would be required only for rentals of the large room, Room 2.
The debate turned personal when the library director revealed that a writers' group had inquired about a recurring monthly booking in the large room >$750 a pop, and simply vanished after seeing the price. Board members worried aloud that the fee schedule could quietly filter out exactly the grassroots groups the library wants to attract, and floated a sliding-scale alternative that would charge more for a first hour and less for each additional one, so longer community meetings don't get priced into empty rooms.
A smaller equity wrinkle also surfaced: as written, the $25 fee is forfeited no matter who cancels a booking, which several board members felt was unfair if it's the city doing the canceling rather than the renter. No vote was taken. Staff will clean up the packet's page numbering and ambiguous alcohol language, then bring the fee structure back in December once they can see, in practice, which groups are being scared off.