District 86 Looks to Raise Field-Rental Fees

At Monday night’s District 86 board of education meeting, a first reading was held for a community relations policy revision that would raise fees for public rental of the district’s synthetic turf fields.

Hinsdale Central and Hinsdale South each have one synthetic practice field and one synthetic stadium field. If the raise is approved, District 86 business manager Jeff Eagan said, it would cost $80 per hour to rent a synthetic practice field, $100 per hour to rent a stadium field, and $150 per hour to rent a stadium field with lights. 

According to Eagan, the current fee system is simply $60 per hour for a football field and $50 an hour for a soccer field. Those rates would remain the same for grass fields under the policy revision. 

The raised rates will be voted on at the May 16 board meeting, Eagan said. The rates would be grandfathered in, so if one had a rental agreement with the district before that day's vote, they will pay the agreed-upon rate. 

Superintendant Dr. Nicholas Wahl said the fees charged to community renters are meant to benefit the fields in the long run.

“The revenue that we bring in [from rentals] will be utilized in approximately 10 years to refurbish them,” Wahl said.

Not all renters will pay the same rate. Eagan said there is a three-level fee scale based on the nature of the renter.

Category 1 renters are approved District 86 clubs such as parent organizations and booster clubs; they don't pay a fee. Category 2 renters are community nonprofits that get a discounted rate. Everyone else—businesses, youth leagues, etc.—are Category 3 and would pay the new price.

“The policy treats an organization that is a not-for-profit or church differently than a for-profit entity renting our space,” Eagan said.

Board member Michael Kuhn asked administration for a report detailing the use of the synthetic fields by community renters and Wahl said such a report could be provided eventually. Kuhn said the board should be provided information on who uses the space, the amount of time they're used, how the district rents out the space, what the capacity of the fields are, and if there are any gaps in the year when nobody's renting.

"I just want to see if there’s something that we’re missing," Kuhn said. 

Eagan said most of the renting is done by junior sports leagues who need a facility. Sometimes, though, it's an organization wanting to hold a single event.

District 86 synthetic fields are made available to the public by Community Relations Policy 8:20.

“School facilities are available to the community for education, civic, cultural, and other noncommercial uses consistent with the public interest when such use does not interfere with the school program or school sponsored activities,” the policy reads. “The use of school facilities for school purposes has precedence over all other uses.”  

The policy revision language says the change is only meant to keep the rental fees in line with comparable high schools in the surrounding area. The topic was discussed at the board's April 11 Committee of the Whole meeting.