By:Jeff Lipton
Representatives of the Inwood Buccaneers Football Club and the Cedarhurst Central Little League attended a special Lawrence school board meeting on Aug. 24, where they made impassioned pleas to the board not to charge fees, saying they could not absorb the additional costs.
The use of the playing fields, which had been cut under the contingency budget, was restored by the board by a 5-2 vote at its Aug. 10 meeting. The board determined that it could open the fields to the public even with the district's budgetary constraints.
With the district forced onto austerity for the second consecutive year after voters once again rejected its budget, the district has been required to change its fee schedule. Nonprofit youth groups that were using the fields free of charge will now be asked to shell out some money.
In a draft of a fee schedule given to board members for a first review at last week's meeting, the district proposed charging nonprofit youth groups $6 an hour for field use at all schools on any given day. The board is expected to vote on the schedule at its Sept. 7 meeting, and until then the old policy will apply.
The fields and buildings are used by residents as well as youth sports teams such as the Buccaneers and the Little League. Since the district is on contingency, the use of the buildings and fields must be budget-neutral, meaning that the district cannot use any money from the budget to make up the difference in costs to provide for custodians on the weekends or to maintain the fields and buildings.
Last year, adult groups were charged $15 an hour, while youth groups were not charged. About $80,000 in overtime was paid to custodians on the weekends. There is no additional cost on school days, since custodians are already in the buildings. The fee schedule has to be arranged so that the district will break even and no money will come out of the budget or be taken from other programs.
Youth groups such as the Buccaneers applauded the board's decision to reinstate the use of fields and buildings at the Aug. 10 meeting. The groups were singing a different tune on Aug. 24 after the board came out with the draft of the fee schedule.
Frank Tullo, a treasurer for the Buccaneers, told the board that for about 40 years the school district's fields have been open to the group for free. "That means we have to increase our fees now," Tullo said. "If we charge children who participate in our sports programs, it will be a hardship. We have many families with two parents who work." He added that many local families may not be able to afford to allow their children to participate in Buccaneers football.
Tullo added that the group has been using the Number Two School field for 40 years. There are now about 400 children in the program, but there's no telling how many will drop out if fees are introduced. "It would be a hardship if the organization has to raise fees," he said. "Don't do it if you can avoid it. We would like to keep it down. What we are looking for is to get it for free, the same as we've been getting it for the last 40 years."
Alan Rothbard, of the Cedarhurst Little League, said $6 an hour may sound reasonable, but may be costly for a group like his. "Six dollars adds up," Rothbard said.
He said he could not understand why the group would be charged if the league uses the same grass as the Lawrence High School softball team, requiring no additional maintenance to the field.
Rothbard said the district should take a look at how many years the group has been helping district kids before making a final decision on whether to implement a fee.
Under the proposed fee schedule, nonprofit youth groups will also have to pay $9 an hour for the use of the gym or the theater in the elementary schools; $11 an hour for use of the middle or high school gym; and $12 an hour for use of the theater in either school. The cost to for-profit adult groups will remain the same, ranging from $100 an hour for use of a gym in the elementary schools to $350 per hour for theater use at the middle and high schools. Adult groups will still be charged $15 an hour for use of the fields.
"We want kids playing sports," school board president Kathy Raquet-Barry said in a phone interview. "We want to do it without having it cost taxpayers a penny. We are looking at ways to make it as affordable as possible. Everyone is looking for ways to make it affordable."
Lawrence Superintendent Dr. John Fitzsimons said the district is in the process of revising its policy to state that there will be no cost to taxpayers for building and field use by outside groups. "Within a contingency budget, people can't get a free ride," Fitzsimons said. "We have to charge what the going rate is. We don't have a pot of gold here."
School board member Frank Parise suggested that at least 80 percent of the children using the fields and buildings should come from District 15. But board member Dr. David Sussman said that if that were the case, clubs such as the Hewlett-Lawrence Soccer Club would be shut out.
"We have to come to a percentage," Parise said. "I believe that field use by people who don't live in the community comes at the expense of taxpayers."
Pat Pizzarelli, Lawrence's supervisor of health, athletics and physical education, said the district should take a look at raising the rates, from $15 to about $50 an hour, for for-profit adult flag football groups who use the fields, which would take the burden off nonprofit youth groups. "They can afford it," he said of the flag football groups.
The board approved the first draft, 5-0, with board member Pamela Greenbaum abstaining. Trustee Anthony Licatesi was not present at the meeting.
