Facility fees worry township

Some Millstone Township officials believe that building a new facility may be cheaper than paying to use the schools for recreation programs.

The Township Committee discussed a letter that the school district sent to Mayor Nancy Grbelja regarding facility-use fees at its Sept. 17 meeting.

The Millstone Township School District Board of Education has been discussing revisions to its Facility Use Policy and fee schedule since spring 2008. Board members are currently considering a revision that would charge township programs $10 per hour for using school district facilities.

The board's Operations Committee has recommended the new policy take effect Jan. 1, 2009.

Grbelja said during the meeting that the school district would charge the township $45,000-$150,000 per year for facility use. She said the fees would likely increase every year, but noted that the Board of Education has not indicated whether the fees would be temporary or permanent.

When asked about the numbers Grbelja presented, the school district's Business Administrator Bernard Biesaida said at $10 per hour, the township would pay $45,000 to use the facilities for 4,500 hours. He said the town would pay $150,000 for using the facilities for 15,000 hours.

Deputy Mayor Bob Kinsey said township recreational programs use the schools for 4,600 hours per year. Therefore, according to the proposed fee schedule, the town would pay $46,000 per year in facility use fees.

Some members of the governing body said at the meeting that it may be more cost-effective for the township to build its own basketball facility at the new Lee Farm Park along Red Valley Road than to pay facility-use fees to the school district. Grbelja said the Recreation Commitmay discuss building a facility on a 6-acre lot at the Lee property.

Kinsey said a building on the 6-acre lot could house three or four basketball courts. He said that if the building cost $1 million dollars, the township could finance the cost at 4 percent over 20 years.

"If the cost were $60,000-$70,000 per year, it may be about the same amount the township would have to pay the school for facility use fees," he said. "By the time the building was paid for, it would not cost the township any more forever."

Kinsey estimated the building cost to equal an one-half cent increase in the tax rate.

Kinsey said he is waiting to see the school district's actual facility costs.

"It's clearly something the school wants to pursue," Kinsey said of the proposed fees. "I think that is unfortunate."

Kinsey said the fees would create a hardship for township youth programs, especially basketball.

Grbelja also stated during the meeting that a math competition held at the township's community center Sept. 14 should have taken place in one of the schools. She said the event, which drew almost 100 youngsters, was crammed into two rooms at the center.

When asked for comment regarding Grbelja's statements, Superintendent of Schools Mary Anne Donahue said the group had not asked the district for use of its buildings.