Price for Field Usage Starts at $45 Per Hour
For-profits and groups from outside the community face a $75 to $350 charge for four hours of use.
Local non-profit organizations might only have to pay a small fee to use athletic fields and school facilities, thanks to the Board of Education adopting a revised fee schedule Thursday night.
Organizations holding a class-2 permit will only pay a $45 an hour to use facilities on days when school isn’t in session or if an event occurs when custodians are not normally on duty. A two-hour minimum is required.
Class-2 permit holders will not be charged to use a facility when events occur during the custodial staff’s normal working hours.
The board has the right to assess fees for damages incurred or if heavy clean up is required after an event takes place.
Class 2 organizations include the Wayne Police Athletic League (PAL), Boys & Girls Club, Soccer Club, Wayne YMCA, and the little league.
The custodial schedule for the district’s various facilities could not be obtained.
Superintendent Ray Gonzalez said in May that district officials would negotiate with the organizations to continue to have “mutually beneficial and creative partnerships.”
The organizations came together and formed the Wayne Sports Coalition before negotiating with the district.
“We pretty much decided that we would go in there as one voice because it wouldn’t be fair if we just went in their on our own and get what’s best for us,” said Steve Schiffman, director of operations and facilities of the PAL. “Sensible heads came together and negotiated the new fee structure.”
Schiffman said people from the PAL and other organizations regularly cleaned up and repaired the athletic fields after they used them.
“There were a lot of things that were occurring and after we sat down with them, we had a discussion and we reconsidered,” said Board President Donald Pavlak Jr. “We’re here to work with everybody. We’re a part of the community.”
Schiffman said district administrators were “very open minded and very cooperative” during the negotiations.
Under the previous fee schedule, the board approved in April, the organizations would have needed to pay between $125 and $500 to use the athletic fields. The fee schedule was first adopted in 2009. It has been revised several times since then.
Representatives from the organizations and residents packed a board meeting in May to protest the new schedule.
Class 3 organizations, which the schedule defines as “groups outside the community,” political rallies or caucuses, and “for profit” groups and individuals, will have to pay between $75 and $350 to use the facilities.
Fee prices are based on four hours of usage. Additional time will be pro-rated at the same rate.
Class 1 organizations, which include extra-curricular and co-curricular school clubs, athletic teams, and the parent teacher organization, will not be charged rental or custodial fees to use facilities.
— Have a question or news tip? Contact editor Daniel Hubbard at Daniel.Hubbard@patch.com or find us on Facebook and Twitter. For news straight to your inbox, sign up for our daily newsletter.
In This article
-
Boys & Girls Club of Wayne
153 Garside Ave, Wayne, NJ -
Wayne YMCA
1 Pike Dr, Wayne, NJ -
-
Money for Nothing
7:34 am on Friday, July 20, 2012
Don't we have custodians around the clock in the schools? Also, does the town charge Wayne Valley for use of Barbour Pond for softball?
Nose Wayne
9:35 am on Friday, July 20, 2012
Money, Night shift usually works to 11pm unless an emergency occurs. The board has a security person from the board go around to all the schools and check them to make sure that they are secure and no damage has occurred. Glad to see the board retracted their original fees for everyone. Making progress (ever so slowly )
Money for Nothing
11:17 am on Friday, July 20, 2012
So it sounds like they are only charging groups on weekends?
Chris Schillander
11:07 pm on Friday, July 20, 2012
maybe they can take $45 of these fees and mow the park down the street from me?? oh well, im outta here in 11 days anyways. Not my concern anymore!
Joe videodummy
5:50 am on Saturday, July 21, 2012
Keep in step with the changes- Wayne Tax Payer's own the schools, the fields, and town hall. The BOE is an elected board placed in charge of running the operation. Those that were initially elected, turned around and appointed new member's, many of which, were of their own political likeness.
In April of each year until September of same, the middle and elementry fields were turned over to Parks and Rec for " field use". Has this changed ?
Non-profit teams were granted permits to practice and play "with-out fee". A non-profit team had to have a "majority" of players from wayne. Teams register as a 501(3) corporation. Has this changed ?
For profit organizations such as Wayne Soccer Club, Wayne Little League, Waqyne Pal, were provided "choice schedule preference" because they were paying customers. Has this changed ?
Parks and Rec has their own "in town teams" in sports such as girls softball, T-ball, and mens and womans softball. Are these teams for profit or not for profit ?
Joe videodummy
6:15 am on Saturday, July 21, 2012
For many years the Wayne Little League ran as non-profit. They decided at one point to elect a board of paid and unpaid members, moving them from a non-profit
organization, and Wayne Soccer, the YMHA, the Boys and Girls Club, and the PAL have alway's been "for profit" organizations.
Do any of our "for profit organizations" recieve large donations from our town that is first collected as a tax. ?
If Wayne Tax payer's aren't happy with the way the BOE is handling "our" fields, we should consider forming a "field use" board of non-paid elected officals that will be in charge of scheduling, maintaining, and collecting fees. But isn't that what the BOE and Parks and Rec is doing already ?
Combined, they are charging "for profit" and "out of town" teams and organizations fot field use as well as classroom useage, as they have been doing for years. These rates were in place since at least 2005, and most likely longer than that.
Wayne Parks and Rec does an excellent job with all of our fields, and we have over 30 of them. The BOE maintaince department is no match for Parks and Rec, and my vote would be to give all the fields to Parks and Rec and let Joe Klunk run the entire operation. With the exception of the Wayne Little League fields, and the Wayne PAL fields. We wouldn't be giving P & R anything, we would just be taking our own fields back. The BOE should not be running our fields.
Joe videodummy
6:36 am on Saturday, July 21, 2012
The only concern the BOE should have is what goes on inside the schools. The schools themselves should apply to Parks and Rec for field use permits and the court should rule on if the schools use of the fields are "non-profit" or "for profit".
If it's decided that the field use is non-profit, how can they charge a pay-to-play rate ?
There is no law that states our schools "must have their own fields", and if the fields can create revenue from out-of-town organizations, the money should go back into the town, and not lining the pockets of the BOE administration.