$50 increase for Saugus athletic fees

SAUGUS – Saugus High School students will have to shell out $400 to play football and hockey this year, as the School Committee voted unanimously to raise athletic fees Thursday night.Students will also have to pay $275 for cross country, cheering and track, and $375 for all other sports. Students on the free lunch program will pay $250 while students on the reduced lunch program will pay $300. All middle school sports will cost $250 except football, which will cost $275.Furthermore, there will be no family cap, which means a family has to pay full price for each daughter or son participating.?It?s unfortunate we have to raise these fees,” said School Committee member Arthur Grabowski. “The only other way to do it was to cut programs. Nobody wanted to do that because we want to keep these kids active and busy.”According to Athletic Director Mike Nelson, current fees are $350 for all sports at the high school with students on free lunch paying $50 and students receiving reduced lunch paying $100. These fees haven?t changed since 2011, said Nelson, who pointed out he had to make $25,000 in cuts, including putting a freeze on uniforms and ending boys tennis, to prevent fees from going up in 2011.?We are down to the absolute bare bones minimum,” said Nelson.Nelson said he and Finance Director Pola Andrews went over the finances for “hours and hours” and the current plan is the best option they could come up with.The athletic program costs roughly $330,000, according to the school budget, $70,000 of which is paid for by school budget, said Grabowski.Grabowski also noted that $100,000 will have to be transferred from the school budget to cover sports from last school year.Superintendent Michael Tempesta also noted the schools would have had an additional $25,000 for sports if the town had fully-funded the budget this year.Committee members discussed putting off the decision to see what options there are for a cap and to give the public an opportunity to speak on the issue, however they ultimately decided to go ahead with the vote.?I agree with everyone that it?s not a palatable situation,” said Grabowski. “But nothing is going to change. The numbers are the numbers … We?re looking at a $6,000 to $10,000 deficit already.”