New Fees For Basketball League Raise Questions
New Fees For Basketball League Raise Questions
By John Voket
It is only the second week of the season, but the newly formed Newtown Youth Basketball Association has already racked up thousands of dollars in charges for its use of town schools for registration sessions, practices, and games. And league organizers are looking at prospective and unanticipated costs exceeding $30,000 if an agreement with the Board of Education cannot be reached.
The first bill to the association from the Board of Ed is in excess of $2,000, and has already raised the ire of Parks and Recreation commissioners and agency Director Barbara Kasbarian.
The issue of charging the now-independent league, which formerly came under the management of the town recreation department, was news to commissioners who gathered at Town Hall South for their last meeting of 2004 Tuesday evening. According to Ms Kasbarian, the basketball program always enjoyed the use of school facilities without charge until this year.
âIt was not our intent when we asked [the basketball league to organize] on their own, for them to be charged,â Ms Kasbarian told the commissioners. She said the association had already received a bill of more than $2,000 for the use of school facilities for three Saturday registration sessions.
Ms Kasbarian said she called School Superintendent Evan Pitkoff who told her he had no choice but to charge the now-independent league.
âEvan said Parks and Rec are family, but now the basketball league is out on its own,â she said. âThey had the money to pay custodians when Parks and Rec were in there, but the basketball association could get hit with a $30,000 bill by the end of the seasonâ¦itâs not right.â
Parks and Rec Commission Chairman Lawrence Haskel said he wanted to get more information on what other groups are being charged, and which groups are not charged.
Commissioner Phillipe Steimle, whose children play in the basketball league, agreed with Ms Kasbarian about her concern for the unanticipated charges. He wondered to what extent other independent town sports programs were being charged for school facility usage.
âThe school board has a bug about basketball,â he said. âI pay taxes here and my kids go to school here. Now Iâve got to pay again for my kids to play basketball in their own school gym.â
Mr Steimle said he would be very interested in learning how much revenue the Board of Education is budgeting for town sports groups to use school facilities in the upcoming year.
When contacted about the issue, Dr Pitkoff said the Board of Education exempts Parks and Recreation Department-managed programs from the fee-for-use policy, but requires any other facility rental organization to cover the cost of any related custodial, food services, tech support, and security.
âI am currently in the process of setting up a meeting with Barbara Kasbarian to discuss the matter further,â he told The Bee Wednesday.
During the Parks and Rec meeting, Carl Samuelson, the assistant director of parks, mentioned that all fees are clearly noted on all the school building use permits issued by the Board of Education.
âBut they donât have the money to pay,â Ms Kasbarian replied. âLast year we encouraged the basketball league to go out on their own, and now this happens. Canât we make Evan [Pitkoff] understand the league is affiliated with the Parks and Rec Department. Itâs a big help to us that they are on their own.â
After administering the basketball program for years, the town requested the organization now known as the Newtown Youth Basketball League to consider reestablishing itself as an independent recreation organization. The move by the league was seen as a favor to the town because it eliminated the need for Parks and Rec Department staff to handle the leagueâs tryouts, scheduling and handling of fees.
The town recreation department still schedules all the leagueâs gym time in town facilities and schools, however.
Contacted about the issue, First Selectman Herb Rosenthal vowed to find a solution to the problem.
âIâll have a discussion with the Superintendent of Schools to find a more comfortable arrangement,â he said.
League coordinator Jack Shpunt said Wednesday evening that his issue lies with Ms Kasbarian and Mr Haskel, who indicated at a Parks and Rec Commission meeting nearly a year ago, that the league would be responsible for the same expenses once it became an affiliated program with its own nonprofit status.
âIf we were able to anticipate these expenses, we would have budgeted for them,â said Mr Shpunt. âThis year we had to get our own insurance, so we had to take a ten dollar surcharge from the kids. If we knew about these bills, we would have had to charge them a lot more.â
The league currently has more than 1,200 youths playing in several age appropriate divisions, he said. The league tries to schedule about 10 games per season, plus playoffs, with most of those games played on weekends when schools are closed.
He said the league has not been billed by the school board for its use of facilities for weeknight practice sessions.
Video Production Nearly Complete
Among other items of business on the Parks and Rec Commissionâs agenda included a screening of a promotional video created by Newtown High School students Ashley LaRocque and Greg Gordon. The project has been nearly a year in the making, and is virtually complete except for some narration and text editing.
The copy that was presented Tuesday contains numerous scenes of Parks and Recreation activities the students compiled throughout the year, mixed with footage of interviews conducted with Ms Kasbarian, several coaches, and program participants themselves. While several instrumental music tracks fade in and out in the audio background, viewers can catch a glimpse of programs including ballet, basketball, swimming, vocal training, baby-sitting instruction, tennis, ballroom dancing, golf, baseball, and the town trails system.
The video, once completed, will serve as a promotional tool for the department, and commissioners also hope to air the segment on local public access cable channels. As the final credits rolled, the students received a round of applause from commissioners and Parks and Rec Department staffers who were on hand for the meeting.
During his report, Mr Samuelson told commissioners that temporary skating rinks had been constructed at Dickinson and Treadwell Parks, and he is awaiting a stretch of below freezing weather days to ice them over for winter use.
Ms Kasbarian also pointed out the winter program brochure had just been released, and praised staff members responsible for its production.
The commissioners briefly discussed the prospect of utilizing Parks and Rec subcontractors for some landscaping duties at Fairfield Hills. Mr Haskel noted that the department probably would not have the resources or equipment to handle anything except department facility maintenance on the town-owned campus.
âHerb is making an assumption that we are involved with Fairfield Hills, but we are not,â he said.
Mr Rosenthal, however, indicated it would likely be an economical move if the town built additional revenue in to Parks and Recreation budget to employ one of the departmentâs subcontractors for the job.
âItâs still in the plan to have Parks and Rec to supervise those mowing contracts,â the first selectman said. âWe donât expect their staff to do the mowing, but if the Board of Selectmen put that item in the budget, then Parks and Recreation will have to do whatever the selectmen direct them to do.â
Before adjourning, Ms Kasbarian also provided a preview of the departmentâs upcoming budget, which will include two new full-time positions. She said the two positions were proposed at $70,000 overall, and were included in the approximately $400,000 proposed increase in the departmentâs budget.