"Where is the money coming from?"
Mayor Doug Scott said that was the question he heard most in early 2005, in his column for the January/February 2005 Village Crier. Two big changes were happening in the Village at once. A new Village Center was being built, and Cherry Hills Village had just left the South Suburban Park and Recreation District. The same front page that announced a U.S. Women's Open meeting at Cherry Hills Country Club also told residents that, starting January 1, 2005, they would "no longer be eligible for in-district rates at South Suburban facilities."
The City's answer was a Recreation Reimbursement Program, which started that same day. Twenty-one years later it still runs on the same numbers. That one fact explains how the program behaves today, covering half of a kid's day camp while returning a small slice of an annual gym pass.
The receipt for a 2002 vote
The program makes more sense once you know what it replaced. Scott explained in that 2005 column that for decades, Village property owners had paid park and recreation taxes to South Suburban. The City itself had no parks revenue except a lottery-funded Conservation Trust Fund of about $28,000 a year. An exclusion election in 2002 gave the City authority to collect property taxes for park, trail and recreation purposes once the Village left the district. In his words, "The big difference is we will have local control over those funds. Again, there is no new tax."
The City set up its Parks and Recreation Fund in 2004 to cover the costs of the exclusion and to build its own parks and recreation functions. Those dollars now pay for the High Line Canal stretch, the special events, and the reimbursement checks.
South Suburban still welcomes Village residents. Its facilities and programs are open to people outside the district, and they pay nonresident pricing. Cherry Hills Village doesn't appear on the district's current list of municipalities it serves. So every Goodson pass bought on a Village address costs more than the same pass bought a few miles away, and the reimbursement is the City's way of giving some of that back.
Twenty-one years at fifty dollars
The 2005 terms were a 50% reimbursement, a maximum of $50 per single activity per resident, memberships and passes included, and a $500 annual maximum per household. The 2026 reimbursement form uses the same 50%, the same $50 and the same $500.
The prices those caps apply to are a different story. Here is what the $50 per-activity cap does to prices posted on official sites this fall:
| What you paid | Posted price | Half of it | Repaid under the $50 cap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Denver Zoo Fall Safari camp, one day, Nov. 23 or 24 | $85 | $42.50 | $42.50 |
| Denver Botanic Gardens "Have Camera, Will Travel" class, Oct. 13 | $51 | $25.50 | $25.50 |
| Wellshire Golf Course, 18 holes walking, weekday | $38 to $60 | $19 to $30 | $19 to $30 |
| Goodson Recreation Center 20-visit pass, nonresident | $160 | $80 | $50 |
| Englewood Recreation Center 25-visit pass, nonresident | $115.75 | $57.88 | $50 |
| DMNS Winter Break camp, four days, nonmember | $330 | $165 | $50 |
| Goodson annual adult pass, nonresident | $625 | $312.50 | See below |
Prices come from Denver Zoo, Denver Botanic Gardens, Denver Golf, South Suburban's Goodson page, Englewood Recreation and the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.
Anything under $100 gets the full 50%. Anything above that hits the $50 ceiling, and the bigger the purchase, the smaller the share the City repays.
Where the cap bites hardest
The annual pass row is left open because the City's rules describe memberships in two ways. One sentence caps reimbursement at "$50.00 per single activity, per resident, to include memberships and passes." The next says reimbursement "for an annual membership or pass shall be 50 percent of the cost incurred by the resident; however, reimbursement costs shall not exceed a maximum of $500.00 annually per household." The rules give Club Greenwood and South Suburban recreation centers as examples of annual memberships. If you're working out a Goodson pass, the Village Center can tell you which sentence it applies.
The South Suburban numbers put it in context. Goodson's adult annual pass costs $450 for district residents and $625 for nonresidents, a gap of $175 that a Village resident pays because of where the house sits. At Englewood Recreation Center the paid-in-full adult annual pass is $339.75 resident and $418.50 nonresident. Englewood's pool and locker rooms are closed for construction until summer 2027, though the center stays open with select programs.
Youth sports work best under the rules. Seasonal activities like soccer, baseball, lacrosse, swimming, hockey and gymnastics through nonprofit youth organizations are reimbursed at 50%. A household with several kids each playing a season or two can reach the $500 household ceiling on modest fees alone.
The fine print that sends forms back
The program is generous about where you play and strict about paperwork. Under the current rules, these are some of the things that don't count:
- Receipts that aren't itemized. Bank statements, canceled checks, non-itemized credit card receipts, handwritten receipts and registration forms are all rejected. A valid receipt shows the participant's name, address, agency, activity, fee and dates.
- Costs around the activity. Initiation fees, rentals, tax, national dues, merchandise, childcare, travel and uniforms are excluded.
- Receipts filed by activity date. Receipts go in the year the fee was paid, not the year the activity happens. A spring 2027 camp paid in November 2026 is a 2026 receipt.
- Lots of small filings. The City asks households to send no more than two submittals per program year.
- Second homes. The program covers primary residences only, and first-time participants attach proof of residency.
The list of qualifying providers is specific. It covers recreation programs from municipal or special-district recreation departments, organizations in the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District, nonprofit youth sports organizations, and municipal golf courses in Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas and Jefferson counties. Wellshire counts because Denver owns it. A privately owned public course doesn't count, even if it's closer.
What the City's own records show
The program has spent less than its budget in recent years. The City's 2026 adopted budget shows reimbursement payments of $156,508 in 2023 and $165,940 in 2024, against a line set at $200,000 for both 2025 and 2026. That's about $34,000 under budget in 2024, which at the household cap would be roughly 68 more households claiming the full $500.
Residents have noticed the frozen caps. In the 2025 Public Works Survey, which went to the Parks, Trails and Recreation Commission in a March 12, 2026 packet, one respondent asked how the reimbursement "have stayed the same from $500 over the decade I've lived in the CHV" and suggested the City at least double it. Another asked why Greenwood Athletic Club qualifies and the YMCA doesn't. A third asked for more time than the second-Friday deadline. These are survey comments, not policy. Nothing in the City records reviewed shows the caps or the eligibility list changing for 2026.
The deadline has actually moved earlier over time. In 2005, claims were due January 31 for the previous year. Now they're due at 4:30 p.m. on the second Friday in January. January 1, 2027 falls on a Friday, so 2026 receipts are due by 4:30 p.m. on Friday, January 8, 2027, which is three weeks after the Winter Celebration at City Hall on December 18.
The checkbox that leads back to Quincy Farm
Near the bottom of the form is a box most people skip. Checking it donates all or part of your reimbursement to the Catherine Anderson Fund, which pays for acquiring and protecting parks, trails and open space in the Village. The City sends a tax receipt letter for the donation.
The name links back to the place. According to the City's July 2026 vision document for Quincy Farm, Catherine H. Anderson gave the farm to the City in 2007, subject to a life estate, and granted a conservation easement. The farm passed to the City in 2016. A 2013 City newsletter said the related land-donation fund was built partly from recreation reimbursement donations, earmarked for parks, open space and trails.
So the money that comes back for a Denver Zoo camp day can go to the open land behind the Big Barn if you check that box. Completed forms and itemized receipts go to the Village Center at 2450 E. Quincy Avenue, or by email as one PDF to [email protected].
If next year's recreation money is going toward learning something with your hands, felt is a good place to start. Niki Collier runs small-group and corporate workshops at Studio 24 in Marlay Park, where you leave with a finished piece and some wool still stuck to your sleeves. Visit Studio 24, shop limited editions or book a workshop.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
