Though the Herricks school board passed a measure during its regular meeting Thursday night at the that would start to put into place its , the specifics of the fee are not completely determined.
Herricks only recently for usage of its fields. The formula used to determine this fee for each team is based on each team's usage per week, which is then multiplied out for its season. A similar method will be used for community organizations such as the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.
One point of debate Thursday night was how exactly to charge the groups.
A local Boy Scout leader explained that there are currently three packs in the Herricks district, which could each pay their own fees. The minimum fee that was set by the board is $50 per year.
When it came to the Girl Scouts though, since each troop varies in the number of girls in the group and there are many more sections of Girl Scouts, that became more difficult to determine.
Assistant Superintendent Helen Costigan said that she would sit down with both Boy Scout and Girl Scout leaders who were present at the meeting to discuss what a fair fee would be for usage.
The fee being imposed on these community groups was more to make things “fair,” explained Herricks Superintendent Dr. John Bierwirth, rather than to be a large profit generator.
Board vice-president James Gounaris said many of the board members “find the usage fees distasteful” and feel as if they are “nickel and diming” groups.
Board member Dr. Sanjay Jain said that the board specifically tried not to include numbers in the policy because each group's situation is different.
