SAN MARCOS CITY COUNCIL
Out-of-town visitors will have to start paying for Rio Vista Park access, starting this summer. Visitors will only be charged on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, but the exact fee will be decided by council at a later date. Those that live within city limits and the San Marcos CISD boundary will get in for free.
San Marcos City Manager Stephanie Reyes made clear that the possible fee is for use of Rio Vista Park, not for river access, which is free.
“This is not a new service. It is one that we already provide today, and its costs have to be paid. The question before council tonight is a matter of policy, should these costs be borne by out of town visitors who use the service or by our existing taxpayers,” Reyes said. “It’s those Saturdays and Sundays. Thirty-six days out of the year, people can utilize the park as normal without any payment or anything like that, on those other days, but the days that are high, peak is what we’re asking for some help to be able to supplement our revenues.”
San Marcos Parks and Recreation Director Jamie Lee Case further explained why a fee was being considered.
“You can see that our expenses will continue to outpace our revenues unless we find additional revenue sources,” she said.
City documents show that at the adopted tax rate of 65.15 cents per $100 valuation is projected to retain the same amount of revenue while total expenses increase each year, showing a deficit that steadily increases until 2029 when it reaches a negative of $15.3 million.
Case gave background on the Managed Access program at Rio Vista, which can also be found in city documents. On May 20, the council implemented the Test Plan, which was utilized on weekends and holidays for 50 days. City documents state that at the end of summer, volunteers and residents said there was improved litter conditions and that people were behaving better.
On Oct. 8, the council agreed to continue Managed Access and expressed a desire to ensure those within San Marcos CISD were exempt from fees.
Assistant City Manager Rodney Gonzales emphasized that Managed Access was about more than just making money. He said in 2024 there was “chaotic behavior” at the park and that residents felt they couldn’t visit for that reason. He said there was also a lot of litter at that time, and the city relies on the program as well as volunteers to help with that.
“What we found was that there was just a general disregard, not by our San Marcos residents, but by typically daily out-oftown visitors who were not taking care of our park,” Gonzales said. “Managed access was more about taking back our park and providing it back to our residents. And overwhelmingly, the sentiment last year, in 2025, was that we did just that.”
Mayor Jane Hughson pointed out that there has been a decrease in litter in the park because of the Park Ambassadors at the Managed Access points.
“We had conversations with people at the Managed Access points,” Hughson said. “Before the styrofoam coolers and all those things get into the park, we were able to handle things and keep a lot of things out of the park to begin with.”
Council member Alyssa Garza said that quality data that showed the effectiveness of the program would be important in getting community “buy-in” and toward making an informed decision.
Gonzales said that, in addition to hard data, there are community emails and feedback regarding the effectiveness of the Managed Access program.
“We believe it’s very effective,” he said. “We never want to overstate anything or make the data seem like it’s onesided, but we certainly found that the hard data was backed up by the anecdotal data as well.”
San Marcos City Council Member Amanda Rodriguez brought up equity concerns, particularly around making sure all community members have access.
“I don’t feel like we’re understanding fully, as a body, the precedent that we’re setting. These rates will continue to raise — even whatever rate we decide in the upcoming future, and it just feels really antithetical to the use of the public,” Rodriguez said. “Free resident entry sounds great until you reach a point where you’re tasked to prove residency requirements. How are we measuring when people are literally unable to provide the necessary documentation?”
The council approved the imposition of a fee for out-of-town visitors beginning in the summer on Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays at Rio Vista, with Rodriguez and Garza voting against it. The council voted unanimously to include those that live in the city and the SMCISD school district boundaries to be exempt.
City documents show the proposed fee for park entry for out-of-town visitors would be on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays and would be $25 for a group of up to ten people and $5 for individuals ages six and older.
However, the exact fees would come back to council at a later date with several options.
