By Dane Anderson, Staff Writer

Eanes Superintendent Nola Wellman told school board members during a meeting on April 29 that she is delaying a much-talked-about change in facility rental fees, for now sticking with the per-participant fees the district has been charging for the last five years. That fee will increase from $25 to $30 per player this summer. 

In previous study sessions, Wellman had presented a new fee structure that would have charged organizations for the time they spent on the field or in a district facility.

“In studying that (hourly fee), it has come to my attention that we would be better served if we had more than just one point in time to determine what (an) hourly rate might more fairly reflect,” Wellman said. 

She said the considered change to a usage fee had been based on data administrators reviewed from the 2007-2008 school year.

“I am going to continue with the per-participant methodology for another year,” Wellman told board members. “That will allow us to once again study (and to) have another point in time in which we will have data and will be able to analyze that kind of structure.”

Wellman said she thought the usage-based fee could be a better way to charge for district facility use.

“But it doesn’t seem that we have fully analyzed it and come to the best conclusion,” she said. “We may end up deciding that there are enough down sides to (a usage-based fee) that it is not the appropriate way.”

One of the complications that turned up in the district’s analysis of fees was the varying quality of fields and facilities. 

“We have many fields in very fine condition and some fields that are in very poor condition; (some) don’t hold water and really need to be redone,” Wellman said. “The demand for the better fields is high and the less quality field surface is something that we need to continue to look at.”

Another issue requiring further study is the determination of where club sports fall on the district’s hierarchy of field users. This year the district added rugby to lacrosse as club sport contenders. Wellman told board members that she wants district administrators to review district policy governing club sports and how they fit into the system. She wants to determine where club sports fall on the priority list for assigning field usage and what they should they pay, if anything, for the use of athletic fields. 

Wellman told board members to expect a quick turnaround on the district’s review of policy regarding the non-district usage of facilities, with a report in study session by June or July.

“It is important to me to communicate to you how much these (youth) groups outside our schools contribute to our programs,” Wellman said. “They build, they support our programs and they support our students in very healthy ways.” 

The increase in the per-participant fee to $30 was the first increase the district had instituted in five years, Wellman said.