FLORENCE -- Florence City Council will talk about their priorities for the upcoming budget year Thursday, including a proposed city gymnasium.
In October, council members discussed the need for a city gymnasium because of the continued growth of their recreational programs.
Chuck Pope with Florence Parks and Recreation says their youth basketball league has grown from 164 kids in 2007 to 360 kids this year. He says this year they will have 45 teams and they're having a hard time scheduling practices and games for all the teams.
Pope says they've always used the gyms at Moore Intermediate School and Williams Middle School but because of their growth and the school's own use of the facilities, the city could use a gym of its own.
Florence Mayor Stephen Wukela says the city needs a gym for a number of reasons, including their efforts to further combat juvenile crime.
"As we provide those services, you see a decrease in juvenile crime... We've had a 33 percent decrease in arrests for juvenile crime since I've been elected mayor and a large part of that is the work off the Mayor's Coalition Against Juvenile Crime and the city's efforts to get young people off the street and give them productive things to do," said Mayor Wukela.
He says the gymnasium would include several basketball courts and classrooms for educational activities.
Wukela says it would house the city's recreational programs and tournaments that would bring in revenue for the city.
The city already has Freedom Florence and the Doctor Eddie Floyd Tennis Complex which brings in thousands of dollars a year for the city.
Wukela said, "The idea of a basketball center gymnasium falls right in line with that object."
The mayor says funding could be an obstacle in bringing this project to reality.
"There are more conservative members of council who are very conservative about our ability to undertake a project like this because of the issue. But I will remind the tax payers that what you're talking about and in order to have the funding to build a $6 million facility is the cost of about seven dollars annually on a $100,000 piece of residential property. You're talking about the cost of a Big Mac meal a year," said Wukela.
We'll let you know if council makes any decisions on this proposed gym at the work session.
The matter is on the agenda for the Florence City Council meeting next Monday.
