Committee members weigh in on lowering school athletic fees

SAUGUS – Town Meeting members wanted to “start a conversation” when they approved an amendment to the School Department budget article to reduce user fees, but School Committee members said Tuesday that the conversation has been occurring for quite awhile.Precinct 9 representative Sean Maltais submitted the amendment to Article 8, asking members to approve a non-binding proposal to put $30,000 of $265,000 in supplemental funds for the school department toward lowering athletic user fees. Maltais was intent on sparking discussion between committee members and Superintendent Michael Tempesta to reduce the fees that cost up to $400 per athlete for some sports, but member Arthur Grabowski said the topic has been discussed at several School Committee meetings with little town participation.?It was presented to me like we?re not cognizant of problems,” said Grabowski of the amendment.?Nobody wants to see (fees) go up, but there?s a budget we have to follow,” said member Corrine Riley. “You have to be creative to get fees down. I have no problem discussing as a committee to see where money would be best used.”Grabowski said with a cost of $300,000 a year to run Saugus? athletic programs, user fees cannot be eliminated.?Our first concern is education first. We have to make sure we have programs and teachers,” said Grabowski. “Whatever money we can scrape up, we work toward reducing fees and we do the best we can.”Grabowski said reductions in user fees are still a priority.?I voted no several times on contractual raises because we were allocating money for user fees,” he said.Chairman Wendy Reed said when the user fees were last raised, a lot of other programs had been cut.New member Vincent Serino, who was not at the meeting but knew about the amendment beforehand, said he thought the amendment was a great idea. “It might help kids go out for things they wouldn?t have been able to go out for,” said Serino Tuesday.Committee member Jeannette Meredith could not be reached.Grabowski said the supplemental funds were the first in four years, which he said was a good sign for the future. “It?s a good feeling getting extra funds to do things,” he said.