Keys and passes to these town amenities can be purchased only by Windermere residents. The town website outlines very specifically that a Windermere resident is someone who lives “within the 2.2 square miles of incorporated Windermere.” It’s recommended that those interested in boat ramp passes or tennis court keys verify their addresses to ensure they qualify because “a majority of ‘Windermere’ addresses are actually located within unincorporated Orange County.” 

According to the staff report, which accompanied the meeting agenda, the Parks and Recreation Committee “identified a concern regarding tennis court keys and passes being used by adult children, extended family members, friends, guests, and other individuals who do not reside in the eligible resident's or property owner's household.” 

A town ordinance requires that guests be accompanied by a member and violators can be fined $200. Keys and passes and be revoked for repeat violations.  

Speaking at a virtual town council workshop on Sept. 22, Parks and Recreation Committee Chair Dena O’Malley said lack of funding for the committee has made improving the town’s tennis courts a challenge. She added that the request to review the fees was a way to support the tennis courts and boat ramps. 

“We were trying to find if there’s any way that we can find some money,” she said. 

The committee’s capital improvement plan request for $25,000 to resurface the tennis courts had been zeroed out as part of the town’s budget cuts, made in the event Florida voters pass the property tax ballot measure Amendment 3 next month. That would substantially reduce homesteaded property taxes and restrict what local governments could use the taxes for. 

Town Manager Robert Smith said it’s the town’s responsibility to maintain the tennis courts and boat ramps. 

“It's not the responsibility of the Parks and Recreation committee for rekeying [the locks] or anything else like the maintenance and repair of the tennis courts or the boat ramps.”

According to the town’s staff report, the cost to maintain and operate the tennis courts over the past five years totaled $96,023, with an average annual cost of $19,204. Boat ramp costs over the same five years totaled $45,601, with an average annual cost of $9,120. 

With 232 current users at $25 per key, tennis court keys generate $5,800 in revenue annually, which leaves $13,400 of the five-year average annual cost for the courts to be supplemented with town funds. 

Boat ramp passes, at $35 and 158 current users, generate $5,530 annually and leave about $3,590 of the five-year average annual cost to be supplemented with town funds. 

The committee and council would have had to bump the fees to $83 for a tennis court key and $58 for a boat ramp pass to make the facilities self-sustaining. But the town elected not to go that route, with the fee increases “not intended to make either recreational facility self-supporting,” according to the staff report. 

“Instead, they represent a shared-cost approach under which the Town (sic) continues to subsidize the facilities while households choosing to use the secured tennis courts or resident-only boat launch facilities make an additional contribution toward those facilities,” the report states.

At the current usage rates, new tennis keys would generate $11,600 in revenue for the town.