O’Fallon school district will levy fee to city for its use of gyms, athletic fields

O’Fallon School District 90 and the city’s parks and recreation department have worked out what they consider a satisfactory boost in fees for the use of school-owned athletic facilities.

It is expected to cost the city between $25,000 and $35,000 annually to use school gyms and fields for parks and recreation programs.

The O’Fallon City Council tabled action on it Monday, however, and voted to send it back to the parks committee for further discussion, at Alderman Jerry Albrecht’s suggestion. Albrecht is the chairman of the council’s parks and environment committee. Their next meeting is expected to be June 12.

The roll call vote was 9-3 to allow time to study more aspects about the resolution. Voting to send it back to committee were Aldermen Roy Carney, Andrea Fohne, Todd Roach, Aaron Hudson, Eric Van Hook, Stephanie Smallheer, Tom Vorce, Jim Campbell, and Albrecht. Voting not to table it were Aldermen Jessica Lotz, Nathan Parchman and Dennis Muyleart. Alderman Ross Rosenberg was on vacation and Alderman Chris Monroe was absent.

During the May 8 parks committee meeting, the parks director said it did not plan to raise fees on their end. The committee approved sending it to council for a vote in a unanimous decision, with aldermen Albrecht, Carney, Fohne, Hudson and Muyleart in attendance. Monroe was absent.

During public comments at the May 15 meeting, Mary Jeanne Hutchison, former parks department director, recommended the city look again at the fees involved because the plan was to have the city’s cost be absorbed by the parks department, but ultimately, she said it would fall on taxpayers. She had attended the May 8 meeting as well.

In a recent interview, Andrew Dallner, director of the parks and recreation department, said the parks department uses five times more gym time than District 90 uses of city facilities. Because of that imbalance, the school district asked the parks department to pay for gym time.

Dallner said the city has not paid any fees for gym usage in the past.

“This is new and it is based off our usage of the District 90 facilities,” he said.

In recent years, the parks department has requested more than 980 hours of usage at District 90 facilities and the school district only uses 190 hours at Family Sports Park.

“We have almost 500 kids participating in our winter basketball program, and we monopolize the Moye and Marie Schaefer gyms Monday-Thursday plus all day on Saturday from late October to March, during prime time from 6 to 8 p.m.” he said. “Due to our usage, District 90 is unable to rent their facilities to outside groups and generate revenue to offset some of their expenses. This agreement compensates the district for lost revenue incurred from our usage.”

Dallner further explained that in comparison, when the district uses the Family Sports Park, they are typically off-peak times and rarely displaces the city’s paying customers.

“Additionally, due to our ability to generate revenue from our concession stand operations, we are able to cover all direct costs associated with field rentals,” he said.

The published rates are in the District 90 Facility Rental Requirement document, and cover insurance, custodian fees, damage assessments, fees for different rooms, and other information. It lists gym rental at Amelia Carriel, Edward Fulton, and Delores Moye at $250 and at Marie Schaefer $150.

On Monday, District 90 Superintendent Carrie Hruby told the BND that she was satisfied with the agreement, and discussion on coordination efforts began over a year ago.

“Because the district cannot rent the facilities to other groups when they are being used by Parks & Rec, it is fair that the income be generated by their programs,” she said.

Hruby said there hasn’t been a facility rental rate increase for at least ten years, except for adjusting the custodian fees based on the district’s negotiated contract costs.

“Much of the District’s rental fees offset the cost of the use of the facility, such as fees for custodians to clean after events,” she said.

Dallner said they have had an intergovernmental agreement in place since the late 90’s with District 90. This agreement is almost identical to the previous versions, except the portion regarding school usage fees.