HRCE reverses decision to charge youth sports teams for weeknight gym rentals

Halifax school officials have reverseda decision to begin charging youth teams to rent school gymnasiums for practices on weeknights, fees the head of a large non-profit basketball club in the city said would have been a "dramatic" financial hit for some organizations.

Thousands of young people in the Halifax area play for basketball clubs, and many groups have relied, at least in part, on free school gym time on weekdays to keep registration fees paid by parents in check.

A number of organizations said they were taken aback when they learned in recent days that a new $10-an-hour fee would be applied beginning in September.

"This seemed to be a little rushed," said Robin Veinotte, the president of the Cole Harbour Rockets basketball club, who described the fee increase as "dramatic."

The fees were among a number of increases the Halifax Regional Centre of Education plans to charge community group and others that use school facilities starting this fall, citing the rising cost of wages, utilities and other expenses.

But on Tuesday, the school district pulled back from the decision to include youth sports teams in the increases, after spokesperson Lindsey Bunin said it had heard from a number of concerned groups.

Why $10 an hour is a lot

While $10 an hour might not seem like much, Veinotte said his organization had 63 teams and 800 youth this year, and the fee would have added nearly $40,000 in costs for the club, driving up the $390 registration fee families now pay for their child to play for the Rockets.

Some families would have been able to handle that, he said, but there are others who rely on funding programs such as KidSport where the annual grant amount to cover registration fees for sports is capped.

Mike Moores, the president of the Dartmouth Celtics basketball club, which depends heavily on school gym time, said the new fee would have increased the Celtics's annual $350 registration fee by $80 or $90. He welcomed the Halifax school district's change of heart.

"Families are already under a lot of pressure with increases," he said. "We have increases as well, as a club. Gear is more expensive, the cost of basketballs, for example, has gone up a lot. Kids' shoes and clothes that parents have to deal with has gone up."