My County Rec Pass was introduced at all county-operated recreation facilities on June 1, 2024 offering a free pass to youths ages 5-18. Kids are required to sign up with a parent or guardian and those under age 9 are required to visit with someone over the age of 14.

So far, the pilot program has seen huge success. “At this point (early August) we’ve had about 60,000 registered,” Suzanne Harrison Salt Lake County Council at-large representative said. “The timing was perfect to catch youths during their summer break.”

“Several times through the summer we have hit capacity at many of the county pools,” Harrison continued. “And kids have flocked to our ‘Try It’ programs, lessons for things like golf, ice skating and rock climbing.”  

The goal of the program is to support families with affordable and safe places to recreate together. To encourage exercise at every age, and to get youths off screens and interacting with one another, which has been proven to help combat loneliness and improve mental health.

“We have teens and families coming in to use the pool, especially because it’s a great way to spend a hot afternoon,” said Sam Maxwell, facility supervisor for Salt Lake City Sports Complex (Steiner Aquatics). Steiner is a county-run facility that honors the My County Rec Pass. “We’ve actually had a lot of traffic in all areas of the facility: families at public skate times, and lots of teens showing up to use the weight room.”

Vincent and Heloise Marciniak (and their two children) are excited about the My County Rec Pass. They relocated to Salt Lake from France for his job only a week earlier and said, “It’s great. We have already enrolled the children in ice hockey, swimming and golf.” They hope the children will make new friends through the activities provided.

Murray Rec Center does not currently honor the My County Rec Pass

Not all rec centers in the county are county-operated. Murray is one of them, as is Alta Canyon Sports Center, Kearns Oquirrh Park Fitness Center, West Valley Recreation Center and Cottonwood Heights Recreation Center. 

Murray is a city that was settled and incorporated early and has many “independent” institutions, along with a historical taxing structure for the amenities provided. This includes Murray Parks & Rec, with a separate budget line item. In 2024, Parks & Rec utilized 17% of Murray’s General Fund.

 “Murray has many of their own things: a school district, library system, power, police, fire, and also their own rec center and programming,” Robin Chalhoub, director of Community Services for Salt Lake County, said. “It’s part of the complexity of local government.

“Murray has leaned into their autonomy, where as some places in the county have leaned into county-supported services. In many ways, towns like Murray have a philosophical difference, they decide at the local level how they want to tax and provide services to their residents.”

Kim Sorensen, director of Murray City Parks & Rec, responded, “There are definitely benefits to being independent. We use our rec center for our youth programming, things like basketball and volleyball. The high school uses it for swimming. Murray prides itself on controlling their own destiny, and we make sure to have first-class amenities and facilities.”

This doesn’t mean that Murray doesn’t receive any funding from the county, it’s more about how the money is appropriated. Murray receives county ZAP (Zoo, Arts & Parks) taxes for cultural programs, like Arts in the Park. They also apply for and often receive TRCC monies for capital improvements. 

TRCC (Tourism, Recreation, Culture & Convention) is a “tourist” tax collected on things like hotels, restaurants and rental cars. In return, funds are appropriated to support tourism-like services: conventions, cultural activities like Abravanel, Eccles Theater, Mid-Valley Performing Arts, museums and Clark Planetarium. 

A portion of TRCC goes to parks and ice sheets, things that residents and tourists might enjoy, but there is also an annual grant component of the TRCC funding, where municipalities apply for funding for the things they most want. The hope is that the individual town (like Murray) will pinpoint the best use of the dollars for their own communities. 

For instance, this year Murray partnered with the county to purchase open space adjacent to the Jordan River for recreation, and will likely receive funds for an anticipated Murray Park pool upgrade.

“We like to think of it as a layering on of amenities and services, providing a more nuanced regional approach,” Chalhoub said. “The county wants to be a good partner to cities and towns and still continue to meet their commitments for other county-provided services.” 

Future of My County Pass for Murray Parks & Rec

As mentioned, the My County Rec Pass is a pilot program. 

“We first want to demonstrate the proof-of-concept, then move forward with the best program possible,” Chalhoub said. “So far there have been many new users, but we want to measure the benefits, to see if those were dollars well-spent, and if the program achieved our aims. After that we’ll present to the [county] council and the mayor for further allocation of funding.”

Murray feels the same way. “This is the first year of the county program and we’ll see how it goes,” Sorensen said. “It costs a couple million dollars with an increase programming, staff and the decreased revenue. But if it seems good, we’d be hopeful that county funding could help cover some of these additional costs.” 

The county maintains they are committed to running the program. “In a perfect world we’d like easily affordable and accessible recreational programing at all facilities,” Councilwoman Harrison said. “And although the My County Rec Pass doesn’t currently work at Murray Rec, Murray residents are also residents of Salt Lake County, which means they can access the My County Rec Pass at all county-run facilities, regardless of where they live.” λ