New Castle to Cancel Several Specialty Camps This Summer
Five summer specialty camps that have been offered by New Castle’s Recreation and Parks Department and use Chappaqua School District facilities will not be offered this summer following a change in the district’s fee schedule.
Robert Snyder, the town’s Recreation and Parks superintendent, said the $75 hourly rate that is in effect is too cost prohibitive for those camps’ operators to continue. This summer, the lacrosse, wrestling, soccer, baseball and Teaches Soccer camps will not operate, he said.
Snyder said the Teaches and David Lee basketball camps will continue to run since those programs have generally attracted more children, which gives the operators a greater chance of absorbing the costs.
“I understand the economics, but it’s a situation that we can’t control because we don’t set the price,” Snyder said.
Previously, the camps were run without a charge from the school district to the town, he said.
Typically, about 25 to 30 children enroll for each camp each week, but at $75 an hour for three to six hours per day, the operation was unsustainable for most operators, Snyder added.
Chappaqua Board of Education President Jeffrey Mester said the town was informed of the changes more than a year ago. Last summer, the higher fee was also in effect but the town and school district negotiated a resolution following bills that were unpaid for many months, he said.
Since then, the town has been aware that the fees would be in effect this summer. Mester said the district has always charged fees that cover only the costs to the district for use of its facilities. That has not changed.
“Those fees are quite reasonable and quite frankly below market value,” Mester said. “When a local resident or organization wants to use our facilities, we only seek to cover our costs.”
Snyder informed the town board in time for its Apr. 1 work session of the likelihood that the five camps would not be offered this summer. He said last week there has been virtually no feedback from the community. Parents and children generally don’t sign up for these camps until sometime later in the spring, so there’s a possibility that many are unaware of the situation this year, he said.
Fee changes for use of district facilities were agreed to by school officials after receiving advice from its attorneys, according to Mester. Camps that were run by the town or through local organizations are covered by an intermunicipal agreement where a flat fee is charged.
However, the summer camps that are now in question are run by for-profit entities, which provides a different dynamic.
“We have been advised that the district is not able to offer our facilities to for-profit groups without a benefit to our taxpayers,” Mester said in an email response. “When these groups have come to us directly to inquire about field rental for their programs, we have had to turn them down. In its simplest form, we simply cannot transfer a (Chappaqua Central School District) taxpayer asset to a for-profit, outside the district company.”
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