Avon Park deserves a quality community center

It's good news that Avon Park's Community Center is possibly going to break even. We want the building to be a success and believe Avon Park needs a facility like that.

A children's program partially funded by the Community Redevelopment Agency will pay about $12,000 in rental for the Children's Academy of Theatre. That amount supposedly will almost make the center break even for the city. That's great news.

The city has struggled for several years with the center losing money. Monthly upkeep alone is expensive, racking up about $2,500 per month. Last year the city lost $14,526 on the community center.

We understand the city council's concern, and also know that Avon Park has some real issues with finding enough tax revenue for the city. That said, often facilities like these do not break even. It's unrealistic to believe they will.

As much as many people claim government should run like a business, it just doesn't always work that way. Local government's duty is to provide necessary services to the community it serves, and to enhance quality of life to those same people, within reason. The quality of life in, say, Naples is different than Highlands County, due mainly to demographics. But we deserve some niceties. Parks don't pay for themselves and neither do youth ball fields, but we all recognize their importance to quality of life in a community. A community center is the same thing.

We hope this influx of cash helps the city as it continues working with a tight budget. A city the size of Avon Park needs and deserves a good community center. The current building is located well and seems to be a nice facility. We want it to serve people there for a long time.