Fort Worth Botanic Garden Will Soon Charge Admission Fees For First Time

FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) – Admission to the Fort Worth Botanic Garden will not be free much longer.

Beginning as early as July, admission fees will be assessed at the famed city-run venue's entrances.

The fees will be as follows: $12 for adults, $9 for seniors, $6 for children between 6-12 years old, and free for those younger than 6 years old.

The decision comes after years of talks and assessments of the garden's needs.

Bob Byers, the Director at the Botanic Garden said, "The staff does a really good job of keeping the garden looking great, but the public needs to understand there are plenty of issues that need to be addressed here."

He says currently they are unfunded by more than a million dollars a year and they've been carrying a deficit of $17 million in deferred maintenance costs for portions of the garden which are falling into disrepair.

"It's everything from gas and sewer lines that are failing because of age to things like the conservatory that you could see things that really need to be addressed," Byers said.

At Tuesday night's Fort Worth City Council meeting, elected leaders authorized the use of $550,000 for the Botanic Garden to address capital improvements and get them ready to start charging general admission fees.

Frequent visitor Addie Fabery reacted to the news by saying, "It's not surprising per se, but it is disappointing."

Fort Worth Assistant City Manager Susan Alanis said, "At the end of the day if we want to take care of it and be good stewards in to the future then a fee is going to be necessary."

The admission fees will begin being assessed upon the completion of several other reports to the city council.

Botanic Garden officials say if there is a delay, the start date for implantation of admission fees could be moved back from July until October.