Liberty County Board of Education members may be taking a look at increasing the fees charged for use of school facilities.
But not all members are apparently eager to put new fees in place.
School system officials proposed raising fees for use of buildings, gymnasiums and athletic fields. The existing fee structure for district facilities has not changed since 2006, according to school system officials. Meanwhile, electrical costs have increased 22% in the last two years, water and sewer costs have gone up 40% in the last 10 years and labor costs have risen 46% in the last 10 years.
“We’re not trying to make any money. We’re trying to offset the cost we have,” Superintendent Dr. Franklin Perry told board members.
School system officials recommended the facility use fee hike to cover operational expenses because current fees were not covering the costs of hosting events, they said.
Among the increases were raising the fee for sound and video technicians to $75 an hour. The district has made many improvements to is audio and visual equipment, operations director Arnold Jackson pointed out, including new video display panels in the classrooms, new security cameras and access controls and new LED lighting. More upgrades are planned for the future, Jackson added.
Board member Marcus Scott said he was “definitely” not in favor of increasing the fees.
“It should be free, in my opinion,” he said. “We need to erase the fee, instead of increasing the fee, especially with the youth programs that want to get into the building.”
Jackson and Dr. Perry said the new fee schedule, if approved, would go toward the overtime school personnel accrue for manning those facilities, along with covering the increased utilities costs.
“We’re having to pay custodians to open and stay, and sound and light techs to stay,” board chair Verdell Jones said. “It’s after hours most of the time. We should not continue to take advantage of them. Lots of times, it’s on weekends.”
Currently, the school system charges $50 an hour for use of a building. Under the proposal, that would be raised to $80 an hour. The money from facilities rentals is put into the school system’s general fund.
Rates for the Performing Arts Center, one of the most requested and used of the school system’s facilities, also include $35 an hour for a sound tech, if needed, and $20 an hour for a custodian.
Fees for gyms and athletic fields, currently $50 an hour, are proposed to be $150 an hour with a two-hour minimum reservation.
“They are ridiculously priced to me,” Scott countered. “Three hundred dollars if you want to open a gym in Liberty County? That’s ridiculous. These are public facilities that should be open to the public. To increase it is ridiculous to me.”
Jackson pointed out the schools have a memorandum of understanding with the Liberty County Recreation Department for facility use at no charge.
Dr. Perry said the school system will have something outlined for board members for their first meeting in August.
“We have not looked at this since 2006,” he said. “Certainly, when we looked at it, we were trying to make sure we were frugal as far as our funds were concerned. If the board is saying to us and take into consideration those things, that’s what we’ll do. We need to do something.”