The Hannemann administration has come up with the reasonable idea of exploring how user fees could help cover the mounting costs of maintaining three of O'ahu's larger recreational facilities.

Central O'ahu Regional Park, with its brand-new aquatic center, and the three-year-old Waipi'o soccer complex are two relatively recent and welcome additions to the family of city parks. But they're so heavily used that funds remaining for their upkeep quickly drain away.

And an older but also popular facility, the Hans L'Orange Park baseball complex, has equally taxing repair needs and is equally deserving of a special boost in maintenance funds.

The previous city administration had hoped that public-private partnerships could be tapped for the support of such parks. Those arrangements still should be considered by Hannemann and his parks officials, with an eye toward involving corporate participation and sponsorship in ways that don't litter public parks with too much intrusive corporate "branding."

Officials are rightly seeking a middle ground. They hold out hope that hosting national and international events at the premium parks could generate revenue, which appears well founded. Two years ago, a weeklong soccer competition generated more than $10 million in revenue.

The aquatic facility in particular, with its competition-quality amenities, could lure private funding, perhaps in the form of fees for events.

That's encouraging. And it sensibly suggests a preference for event-driven fees and not a pay-at-the-gate tax for regular park use, which would run against the very idea of "public" parks.

If event fees are generated, they should be plowed directly back into the facility to pay for maintenance costs — anything less would amount to a back-door tax hike.

At a time when the city faces budget cuts across the board, user fees become a necessary evil for our elected leaders. Still, those fees should always be viewed as supplemental funding sources; the counties must view the upkeep of their facilities among their most basic responsibilities, to be paid for using basic municipal revenue sources.

But unless taxpayers want to see user fees assessed at many more parks, it's time to accept the need for these fees at a few premium parks, where maintenance costs have been estimated at more than $2.3 million a year.

The effect of continued deferred maintenance — a political path of least resistance that's been followed by state and city leaders alike — can be seen clearly in roads, schools and government's other deteriorating underpinnings.

Let's not repeat that mistake with O'ahu parks.