According to the TE School District website, the Facilities Comittee meeting has been rescheduled. Typically, the meeting is held the second Friday of the month at 2 PM, which would have been August 9. However, the meeting has been rescheduled for Thursday, August 22 at 7 PM. The agenda for the meeting is the Valley Forge Elementary School tennis courts.
Although residents have enjoyed the use of the VFES tennis courts for free of charge this summer, usage fees are expected to begin in September with the start of school. At the last Facilities Committee meeting on June 14, the discussion of usage fees ranged from hourly fees of $15/hr weekdays – $25/hr weekends to an annual association charge of $28K. The usage fees for private lessons and tennis camps was established at the June Facilities Commitee meeting and signage on the courts reflects those fees — $30/hr for one court and $60/hr for two courts. It was my understanding that the private lesson/tennis camp user fees were to start immediately.
These are some of my questions that I would like answered on August 22:
- What is the cost basis for the District fee schedule for the tennis courts?
- What is the process for collecction of the user fees?
- What is the cost of the District’s collection process?
- What is the process for reserving the tennis courts?
- How will the tennis court usage be policed?
- What is the estimated cost to police the the courts?
- What is the annual maintenance cost of the courts?
- What is the anticipated District revenue from the user fees?
- Is use of the tennis courts prioritized, i.e. are residents given priority use over tennis pros using the courts for lessons?
- If so, how is the prioritze determined?
- As a result of user fees for the tennis courts, does the District plan to charge for the use of CHS track, school playgrounds, outdoor basketball courts, etc.?
Previously, someone comment on Community Matters that Teamer Field had generated $400 in user fees as of March 2013 — it looks like the District is anticipating greater revenue from the tennis courts. We should expect that the District will present the cost analysis to maintain the tennis courts and the associated costs to collect the fees and police the courts. It will be interesting to see how the District arrives at the annual maintenance costs for the tennis courts, given that VFES neighbor Don Detwiler has done that job free-of-charge for years.