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Steamboat Springs — Fees for building and equipment use will go into effect Feb. 1 at the Routt County Fairgrounds in Hayden.

The Routt County Board of Commissioners approved the proposed fee schedule Tuesday. The panel requested few changes to the document presented to the Routt County Fair Board last week, though commissioners chose to exempt regular 4-H program activities from paying a deposit.

"I think it continues to be a work in progress," Commissioner Doug Monger said. "We're going to implement this and see how it goes."

Members of 4-H still must pay deposits for special events. Decisions will come on a case-by-case basis, Fair Manager Jill Delay said. No fees will be charged during the Routt County Fair.

The fee schedule charges different rates for commercial/nonresident users, Routt County residents, Routt nonprofit groups and Routt youth nonprofit groups. The first group pays the highest fees, and the last group pays the lowest. When 4-H groups are charged, they'll pay the youth nonprofit group rate.

Commissioners are waiving fees for programs such as livestock judging contests, shooting sports and the Town Kids Project. Community groups can meet at the grounds for free in most situations.

Delay "spent a great deal of time researching what other fairgrounds in the state do and tried to come up with a reasonable, balanced fee structure," Commissioner Diane Mitsch-Bush said. "We feel it is a reasonable, balanced fee structure."

Some Fair Board members and residents were upset that 4-H members would be charged to use the Multipurpose Building at the fairgrounds. Members and their families raised money for and helped construct the building. They still have that ownership, Monger said, but that makes them responsible for helping maintain the building.

"If you need to change the oil in a car, somebody's got to pay to change the oil in the car," he said. "If it's truly an ownership thing, there's some accountability there for ownership and maintenance."

Delay said she thought the decision was reasonable.

"It was a fair process for everybody, and all the comments were considered, and the commissioners did what they think they needed to do to really run the county effectively for the situation they're in right now," she said.

The county plans to give the fairgrounds $160,000 this year and plans to allocate state lottery money for capital improvements.

"The commissioners made it quite clear that we're subsidizing agriculture; we're subsidizing the fair; we're subsidizing the fairgrounds," Monger said. "But it's not an open checkbook."

- To reach Blythe Terrell, call 871-4234 or e-mail bterrell@steamboatpilot.com