BY KARISSA MILLER
The Iredell-Statesville Schools Board of Education is considering a proposed increase to some of the fees the district charges for community use of its indoor and outdoor facilities.
If the board approves the increase, the use of an auditorium for a performance or athletic field without synthetic turf and mondo track would cost $100 for one hour. There could also be additional costs including a $35 an hour cleanup fee, cafeteria worker to supervise $30 an hour or supervision for $35 an hour. The cost of a School Resource Officer would vary by location.
The proposed cost of using a classroom is $20 an hour, while the rate for a media center is $30 an hour. According to the policy, all facility rentals will be billed in hourly increments and require a 50 percent payment at the time of booking with the remaining balance due seven days before the event.
“We have several organizations that use our facilities and book out our facilities well in advance. Anyone who has something booked would not be subjected to this new rate if they had already booked and reserved that,” said I-SS Chief Technology, Facilities and Maintenance Officer Tim Ivey.
The rate increases would begin July 1.
Other changes are the Performance Arts Center and auditoriums as follows:
• $200 per hour Competition/Showcase Rate
• $100 per hour Performance Rate
• $50 per hour Rehearsal Rate
• $40 per hour Production Tech
• $30 per hour Tech
• $20 per hour Student Tech
• $15 per hour Stage light Fee No Tech
• $15 per hour Sound System Fee (no tech)
• $50 per day Band/Chorus/Drama room rental
• $25 per hour Advanced Lighting Surcharge
• $100 per rental Large Venue Projector (where available)
• $250 per rental Marley floor (where available)
Ivey said that the proposed revisions remove section 8 from the current policy, which is for traveling sports teams.
Ivey said having one set of facility use fees for nonprofits and businesses is more fair and equitable, he added. He recommended that the board look at facility use fee policy once a year.
“Where we’ve gotten ourselves into issues is that we haven’t updated them in a while. As things change, we need to go in and add a certain item that is not there,” Ivey explained.
The board will vote on adopting the updated proposed fees on May 13 at its regular 6 p.m. meeting.
OTHER MATTERS
In other matters, the board voted unanimously to retain Campbell, Shatley, PLLC as the board’s attorney until the July meeting.
Normally, the board doesn’t vote on agenda items at the Committee of the Whole meeting, but a majority of board members voted to suspend the rules.