School district and city working out facilities usage agreement

At last week’s meeting Director of Business Services Aron Rausch presented information to the governing board on the intergovernmental agreement for facility usage between the district and the city of Maricopa.

The current, one-year facilities agreement is in place until Oct. 17.

“Joint use is an important thing; it’s joint use of taxpayer monies,” Rausch told board members. With a growing city and a growing district, space for events is at a premium.

In the past the community has used school facilities during non-school hours in lieu of the district paying permit fees out of bond funds. A community activities fee schedule based on ten types of usage at hourly rates applies. For example, practice fields used by the community for 640 hours during the year at $50 per hour amounted to $32,000. The total facility usage agreement is for $143,450 for the year.

The agreement could be terminated for lack of funding, statutory changes, failure to perform or non-compliance, all with a 90-day notice. Fees could be charged if the city exceeds the limit of its hours of usage.

“I don’t think the school district is getting the same benefit as the city,” said board member Tim White. “It doesn’t make dollar for dollar sense.”

According to Rausch, maintenance and custodial costs, utilities and salaries have all increased. Maintenance is paid out of the general fund. “Right now what we really need to concentrate on is our general fund; that’s where we are at risk. We aren’t concerned about making money, but we can’t lose money,” he said.

Prior to the end of the current agreement in October, staff recommends a new fee schedule based on anticipated costs with revenues collected for usage instead of permit fees and receipted as revenue in the general fund. The new schedule would be based on staff research and comparisons with other school districts.

“It’s taxpayers of the entire area that benefit, and kids,” said Rausch. “It has to be a win-win for both entities.” He added that most every school district has an agreement with their cities. “It has to be economically sound.”

Board president Geoff Goddard asked that something be put in place for planning, either at a board meeting or a joint meeting. The facilities usage agreement will be on the agenda for the Sept. 29 joint meeting between the school board and the city council.

During the Call to the Public, assistant to the city manager Paul Jepson remarked, “We’re on board with studying area schools’ charges. We’re not that far off, and we can hammer something out even before the 29th.”

“This is so vitally important. There’s no us versus them; it’s the same people. Our goal is to provide opportunities for the community,” said board member Carrie Vargas.

Staff photo