Swampscott mulls hike in athletic user fees

SWAMPSCOTT – Athletic programs in town cost almost $500,000 a year and the district is looking at increasing user fees to offset some of the costs associated with the programs.School Committee Chairman David Whelan said Superintendent Matthew Malone is recommending increasing user fees for high school sports from $150 per sport to $250 per sport with no family cap.”The School Committee has not decided whether to accept his (Malone) recommendation or not,” Whelan said. “There is some concern among members of the School Committee that increasing fees would decrease participation.”School Committee member Daniel Yaeger said this has been a concern for several.”I’m concerned about the middle class parents as we keep moving towards more user fee based systems,” he said. “The budget creep on each family is enormous. One hundred dollars here and another $100 there but I don’t realistically know what we can do about it in this current budget climate.”Whelan said last year the School Committee voted to adopt a policy that allows students eligible for free lunch to receive a waiver exempting them from paying athletic fees.”Any student eligible for a waiver can discretely approach Malone,” he said. “Information on students receiving waivers is kept completely confidential.”Athletic Director Frank Kowalski said the district currently charges less than what many other schools in the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association charge.According to data provided by the School Committee, the football program cost $46,483 to run in fiscal year 2007 and consisted of 70 players, each of whom paid $479. The costs for the football program were offset by $23,530 in income from gate receipts, which only the football and basketball programs benefit from.Hockey is the most expensive sport at $840 per student.There are 33 students participating in the softball program, which costs $717 per student. The $150 per sport user fee does not cover costs associated with any of the athletic programs offered at the high school, which Whelan said is a problem given the budget.”The money has to come from somewhere,” he said. “If we don’t increase fees, cuts would have to be made somewhere.”Kowalski said a decision has not been on made how much user fees should be increased by next year.”We’re going to take a look at what other schools are doing including Marblehead and Danvers,” he said. “I don’t think this is anything there will be a lot of discussion about until the spring. It wouldn’t go into effect until next fall.”