Wallingford‑Swarthmore SD trustees consider doubling some facility rental rates to close budget gap

Administrators for the Wallingford‑Swarthmore School District told the facilities committee on March 17 that the district has been subsidizing community use of school facilities for years and needs to raise rental rates to cover custodial overtime, benefits and field maintenance. Dr. Johnson said the district maintains roughly $157,000 in annual costs to keep grass fields playable and currently recovers only about $11,000–$13,000 a year in field rental revenue.

The presentation applied proposed rates to actual invoices and showed many fees roughly doubling under the plan. For example, the district’s custodial break‑even figure was presented as $55 per hour once retirement and benefits are fully allocated. Administrators also outlined proposed new hourly and block rates for gym, classroom and field rentals and described a phased approach option that would spread increases over one to three years.

Board members pressed staff on implementation details. Several members urged that any new rates fully cover custodial costs and that a portion of revenue be dedicated back to field maintenance. Questions included whether the four‑hour minimum at King Field should remain, whether portable toilets could allow hourly rentals without custodians, and whether group‑C (for‑profit) users should be raised faster than group‑B (community/nonprofit) users. One board member recommended limits on the percentage of available hours sold to higher‑paying groups to avoid losing overall reservations.

Public commenters and community partners pushed back on the scale and timing of increases. Resident Grace Lord asked whether higher fees would make community partners “untenable,” and Amy Strassburger, executive director of SRA, said her organization paid $3,225 last year to run a five‑week summer camp and that applying the proposed rates would raise that cost to about $16,025, which she said would jeopardize affordability and scholarship funding. Strassburger urged a phased implementation tailored to nonprofit budgets and noted that SRA already pays custodial fees under the current arrangement.

Administration presented phased‑in examples for group B and C rates (two‑ and three‑year ladders) and asked for board feedback on effective dates, whether to apply changes to both groups or stagger them, and whether to create a separate summer‑camp rate. Ms. Mosley, who led the finance modeling, said the district seeks to stop subsidizing rentals so that limited capital funds can be redirected to maintenance and other priorities.

Next steps: the board asked staff to bring options back for additional public input and for the board’s legislative committee and policy committee review in late March and April, with a likely further vote or policy referral once modeling and community feedback are complete.