Several Changes Made To 2026 Greenwich Parks & Recreation Fees

GREENWICH, CT -- The calendar has now flipped to 2026, which means new fees are in place for Greenwich Parks & Recreation programs and services.

Assistant Parks & Recreation Director Dan Carlsen appeared before the Board of Selectmen on Dec. 23 for a second reading of the proposed fee schedule.

Carlsen noted the fee schedule would bring about an estimated 8-10 percent revenue increase, figures he said were "actually pretty high" for the department.

The biggest driver is the $5 increase in the annual park pass price for residents 16 to 64 - the first such increase in five years.

"That's one of our biggest revenue components," Carlsen said.

For this year, the fee for an annual park pass for adults age 16-64 is $45 before April 15, and $50 on or after that date.

Carlsen presented several changes from the previous proposal that was shared with the selectmen on Dec. 8.

"After receiving the feedback from the public, Parks & Recreation staff does have a couple of recommended reductions," Carlsen told the selectmen.

The fee for synthetic turf rentals at Cos Cob, Greenwich High School and Western Middle School, which was $80 an hour for for-profit organizations and $65 for nonprofit organizations in 2025, was originally proposed to increase to $90 for for-profit organizations, and $75 for nonprofits this year.

However, the increase was amended to $70 for nonprofits.

"We've heard from a couple of organizations stating that there was a number of increases over the year," Carlsen explained. "We still think it would be important to have a little bit of an increase, just to maintain the operational costs and cost of living costs."

Over at the Griffith E. Harris Golf Course, the 2025 fee for shotgun tournaments was $65, and Parks & Rec. previously proposed an increase to $70.

"Again, after hearing some feedback from some of our other partners up there, we thought it would be good to reduce it down to $68," Carlsen said. "We do like to be hosting these community events, but we still need to increase that just to meet our operational costs."

Additionally, the fee for nine holes for non-members peak and off-peak was proposed to increase from $52 to $63, but Carlsen said the department felt that was too high. The fee will now be $57.

The fee for 18 holes for non-members at peak time was proposed to go from $62 to $70, but Parks & Recreation settled on $68.

Elsewhere for 2026, the parking sticker fee for non-Greenwich registered vehicles will remain $225 per vehicle, but only if it's purchased before April 15 - a new condition. The fee jumps to $275 on or after April 15.

In the organized recreation category, fees for tennis (now two weeks long), basketball, field hockey, soccer and softball instruction have been increased.

The fees for resident membership cards for tennis/pickleball have gone up to $45 before April 15, and to $50 after April 15. The fee for senior residents remains the same at $20 and $25 respectively.

Rentals across the board at the new Cohen Eastern Greenwich Civic Center have also gone up, along with several fees for town-run camps, and synthetic turf field rentals at

The highest fee at the civic center is $225 an hour for facility rentals.

"The lowest [fee] I found in other communities was $250 an hour, so we're still a little bit lower compared to competitive rates," Carlsen said. "If you compare it to private options, or even nonprofit organization options, even within town, we're well below the competitive rate, so I do believe we're pretty affordable for a lot of our community members to utilize the civic center."

During his first appearance before the board in early December, Carlsen said the Parks & Recreation Department looks at operations and pricing in the private sector, as well as what other municipalities of similar size are doing to get an idea of what the market rate is.

Carlsen said Parks and Recreation staff try to strike a balance between dealing with rising costs and providing access to high quality services and programs, and that fee increases are meant to be incremental.

The approved fee changes have not yet been posted to the town website, but you can view the original fee schedule proposal here.