Barrington sports leagues balk at possible fee increase

Youth sports leagues could face 500 percent fee increase; officials say fields already in poor condition

Posted 9/19/18

Officials from youth sports leagues in Barrington are struggling to understand the logic behind a potential increase to field use fees in town.

A proposal drafted by Barrington Town Manager Jim …

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Barrington sports leagues balk at possible fee increase

Youth sports leagues could face 500 percent fee increase; officials say fields already in poor condition

Posted

Officials from youth sports leagues in Barrington are struggling to understand the logic behind a potential increase to field use fees in town.

A proposal drafted by Barrington Town Manager Jim Cunha calls for the per player field use fee to increase from the current $10 per player per year, to $25 per player per season. 

That's a $40 (or 500 percent) increase for leagues such as the Barrington Youth Soccer Association and Barrington Little League for any athletes who play during both the spring and fall seasons.

According to the draft proposal, Mr. Cunha intends on submitting the fee changes for introduction at the Oct. 1 town council meeting. The public hearing for the ordinance would be held at the Nov. 5 town council meeting.

"It is my belief that the increased fees are more equitable, for taxpayers and minimal-use leagues," wrote Mr. Cunha in the draft, "and will allow for more consistent and better field conditions."

Bob Zeleznik serves as the president of Barrington Little League and said the potential fee increase would likely necessitate an increase to the league's registration costs.

"Barrington Little League is a non-profit, 501(c)3 organization. We are entirely volunteer run, operate based on break-even budgeting, and try to keep our registration costs affordable for Barrington families," Mr. Zeleznik wrote in a recent email. "This town fee increase would most likely necessitate a 15 percent increase in the registration fees we charge, which could lead to lower enrollment and affect our ability to offer need-based scholarships."

Steve DeBoth, president of the Barrington Youth Soccer Association, shared a similar message. He said an increase to the per player field use fee could result in fewer boys and girls playing youth soccer in Barrington.

"I really question the process here," said Mr. DeBoth. "It's not like someone came to us and said, 'Let's talk about soccer. Tell me what your thoughts are…. let's work together on this.' Instead I feel like this was looked at as a line item. And they're treating the parents as piggy banks, to some extent, and it places a bounty on the heads of child athletes to solve some line item."

Mr. DeBoth said any decision to charge youth sports leagues more money is a move in the wrong direction.

"There are families in town that have multiple kids playing multiple sports. This (potential fee increase) goes from tens of dollars to hundreds of dollars," said Mr. DeBoth. "The effect is that, to some extent... some families will make that decision to either not play two seasons or drop a sport.

"It's already hard enough to get them (children and teenagers) away from screens and phones and all that kind of stuff…"

Mr. DeBoth and other youth sports league officials in Barrington also question the condition of many athletic fields in town. In fact, many of the league officials interviewed said the town is already failing to properly maintaining its athletic fields. In addition, the construction of the new Barrington Middle School building eliminated some of the best athletic fields the town had to offer. 

Mr. Zeleznik said that in the past, the town would "rehab" one baseball field each year, but that has not been the case recently. A tour of some of the town's baseball fields reveals dirt infields covered in weeds and a lack of painted foul lines. 

DPW employees said they have been scrambling to get fields ready for sports leagues this fall because the town manager had directed the department of public works to not focus on the fields. They said he instead redirected the workforce to handle other tasks, such as tree trimming and clearing storm drains. 

Mr. Zeleznik said the town is charging Barrington Little League to make repairs to a Haines Park field.

"… what’s particularly troubling with this rate increase is that the town has not been rehabbing its fields. This fall, we've been asked to pay between $8.5K and $12K to cover the labor cost for just one field in Haines Park. Previously the town covered these costs completely. Barrington Little League does not have the financial resources to make such large expenditures on top of the current town field use fees it pays," Mr. Zeleznik wrote.

"If we're to be expected to contribute to rehabbing one or more town baseball fields each season, then we're looking at possibly a 30 percent increase in registration fees … just to stay where we were, without considering the possibility of rehabbing multiple fields or making capital improvements to dugouts, scoreboards, AED's, and other baseball equipment."

What other towns charge

After learning about the potential fee increase, Mr. DeBoth began checking with other municipal governments in Rhode Island to see what they charged youth sports leagues. He said East Greenwich does not have any per player field use fee, and in South Kingstown, the leagues only pay for the lining of the fields.

"Those towns have it figured out, and we're literally playing on a dump right now. Right? Literally," he said, referring to the fields at Chianese Park which were constructed on top of a former landfill. 

Mr. DeBoth was coaching a youth soccer game at a Chianese field on Saturday morning when the turf conditions resulted in an apparent injury to one of his players.

"...I'm proud of our (Barrington Youth Soccer Association) families. I'm proud of our kids. They're not given the conditions you will get in other places. And they're out there, they're working hard and they're having fun. So that's great. I'm proud of them for that. But it's weird to be from a town like this and have people come in from other towns and actually feel embarrassed."

Mr. Zeleznik said many local families are surprised by how much better the field conditions are in other towns. 

"During the All-Star season, our various All-Star teams travel to fields in other towns in our Little League District 2 (from Pawtucket to Newport)," he wrote. 

"Almost every town has better facilities and better maintained baseball fields. Visitors from other towns, and Barrington parents alike have commented on the poor state of youth athletic fields in Barrington relative to neighboring towns. Given the importance of youth sports to the development of healthy, well-rounded members of our community, it is unfortunate that Barrington doesn’t have the best athletic fields."

Seth Fisher serves on the board of directors for Barrington Pop Warner and is also involved with East Bay Lacrosse. He said increasing field use fees will not address the more important issue facing the town's youth sports leagues.

"We have a severe lack of fields in town," he said. "This deficit, combined with the lack of the Barrington Middle School fields, will put an unmanageable strain on the existing fields. The town struggles to maintain what we have and cannot provide alternatives. Though supply and demand determine costs, does that give the town justification to raise fees when there are less fields?  

"If the town wants to raise fees, then I would ask, will that money stay with the rec. department, or perhaps move to the DPW or BHS? This town needs better facilities for youth sports, and the high school was robbed of that opportunity with the town refused to put in artificial turf."

Mr. Fisher also suggested that the town will have an opportunity to construct a new state-of-the-art recreation complex when it puts in the new athletic fields at the middle school construction site, once the new school is complete and crews have demolished the old building.

Soccer tournament

Barrington Youth Soccer Association officials were concerned when they heard rumors that that town may charge the league an additional fee for use of fields during its Barrington Invitational Tournament in November.

According to the draft proposal, the tournament rates for a Level 1 field (Barrington High School, Barrington Middle School, Chianese baseball and soccer fields, Haines Park baseball field, Sherwood Park, Sowams School fenced field, St. Andrew's Farm field and the field at Veteran's Park) are $200 per day per field. The league had assumed that their regular fall field use fees would cover use of the soccer fields for the tournament.

The BYSA uses numerous fields across town for the BIT, which runs for an entire weekend. Dozens of youth soccer teams from across New England participate in the tournament.

"… they're asking for us to give up some of the revenue we make from the annual tournament. We bring business into town," he said. "When I call businesses when I see if they want to sponsor the tournament, more than once I've had a business tell me 'Oh, I'm glad you're calling, give me the dates, because I need to hire extra people for that weekend.'"

Mr. DeBoth said BYSA officials have already had to relocate hundreds of games for this year's BIT because of the loss of the middle school fields. "… and now we're faced with the prospect of having to accept fewer teams just to make this work. We bring in teams from Connecticut and Mass., and this will be their first year on new, even worse fields. I don't know what happens to us next year. This is on our front burner. We talk about this all the time. We have strategies to mitigate some of this. But I'm more worried about next year."

Mr. DeBoth questioned the town manager's ultimate goal with these fee increases. He said the negatives far outweigh the potential small revenue grab.

"Compared to the size of the budget, that's nothing, but the effect is huge," he said. "It's incredibly disproportionate to the amount of benefits they're going to get from it (youth sports). 

"I just don't understand why the process was the way it was, because I feel that it was done dark at night at a computer terminal. 'Oh, what a great idea, I can squeeze some more money out of them without having to ask for a tax increase.' Why don't we just put a turnstile and coin slots everywhere?"

Town manager: Increased fees will lead to better fields

Barrington Town Manager Jim Cunha said the proposed increase to the field use fees would be used to make improvements to the town's athletic fields. Mr. Cunha said he does not believe that taxpayers should be paying for certain things related to the fields, such as lining the fields and moving soccer goals. He said those costs should fall directly to the sports leagues. "I don't think it's a taxpayer responsibility to line fields for a soccer tournament," he said. "Quite frankly. I think the leagues need to help us pay for the utilization of the fields. Soccer is the most demanding, as far as the playing time and the number of the fields that need to be lined." Mr. Cunha said he supports the concept of bringing more athletic fields to Barrington, but added "How do we get them? Where do we put them? That's the problem. There's really no place in town to add fields." Mr. Cunha said he plans to talk about the field use fee proposal at this month's parks and recreation commission meeting.

How would the potential field use fee increase impact local families?

A Barrington family with three children playing sports during both the fall and spring season, currently pays a field use fee of $30 to the town (through the various youth sports leagues). If the proposed increase is approved, that figure would increase to $150. The town manager's proposal also calls for a field rate fee: Adult and youth sports leagues would be required to pay $75 per day for "Level 1 field" and $35 per day for a "Level 2 field." The tournament rates are $200 per day per field for a Level 1 field, and $100 per day per field for a Level 2 field.

In another town, new athletic fields

Officials cut the ribbon on four new athletic fields in North Kingstown on Friday, Sept. 14, at the Quonset Business Park. Located in the North Davisville section of the park, the 22-acre athletic field complex is now available for public use. The development of the fields was made possible by joint efforts of the Quonset Development Corporation, the Town of North Kingstown and RI DEM, including a $400,000 RI DEM grant and matched donations of $200,000 from the QDC and North Kingstown. The fields are now open for public use and are also available to North Kingstown’s soccer leagues.

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