The Pittsylvania County School Board has no plans to get rid of new user fees it will charge to youth sports programs and other organizations that use its athletic facilities.
The school system should be reimbursed what it costs to let groups use its gyms and fields, including electricity and other costs, said Calvin “Bunky” Doss, chairman of the Pittsylvania County School Board.
But Callands-Gretna Supervisor Fred Ingram, who made the motion for the Board of Supervisors to ask the school board to rescind the fees at its meeting Aug. 17, said he is “disappointed” in the school board.
“They (schools) belong to the taxpayers of Pittsylvania County,” Ingram said Wednesday.
By charging the new fees, the school board is “punishing the kids because they’re upset with the Board of Supervisors.” School officials are upset because supervisors don’t give the school system enough money, Ingram said.
School Superintendent James McDaniel said the fees are meant to help recover maintenance and utility costs due to facility use.
“It is an attempt by the school board to recoup some of those costs,” McDaniel said.
The Pittsylvania County School Board added the user-fee item to its Aug. 10 meeting agenda after supervisors asked the board to rescind its fees during a Board of Supervisors/School Liaison Committee meeting in July. The school board took no action on the item during the Aug. 10 meeting, keeping the fees in place, Doss said.
The new seasonal application fees, which went into effect July 1, charge youth sport programs and other groups in three-hour blocks for use of its athletic facilities, including gyms, tracks and fields.
The new fees charge $25 for use of a gymnasium or auditorium, $15 for use of an athletic field or track without lights and $60 for use of an athletic field or track with lights.
Before, youth sports programs did not have to pay for use of the school system’s facilities, McDaniel said.
Doss said some groups, including youth sports leagues and other organizations, were using facilities for free before while others were being charged. The new fees will bring consistency and make things fair for everyone, Doss said.
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