RE: Club Fees? $$
My guess is that there are quite a few RC clubs around Bremmerton, so I recommend that you shop around. Check the AMA website; they list all AMA clubs. In my experience there are plenty clubs out there that charge less.
As for the cost, I've been suckered into being president for the last three years so I speak from experience that maintaining just the runway is expensive. There's more to the job than just mowing it, although mowing is ^%#$%^ expensive. If it wasn't for one of our older members who mows the field for $30 a cut, we would be drafting members to take turns mowing and noone wants to do that. I got prices for someone else to mow it weekly because the old guy was grumbling about moving away and the best price I got was $100 per cut. That would bankrupt our club. Then there's maintenance on the safety barriers, fences, gate, tables, equipment, etc. AMA fees, including insurance, is only $90/year so that's chump change compared to everything else.
I would gladly pay $100 or even $200 per year to have a decent place to fly. If you fly giant scale gas warbirds like I do, what's the alternative? I gotta keep 'em airborne. . .
Mike