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General News: Summer Playground Problems Sorted Out
July 16, 2008
The village board of trustees is tweaking its summer playground program after the unexpected departure of its long-time director and a drop in enrollment.
At Monday night’s board meeting, trustees Barbara Gosda and Rick Gioia, who were appointed by Mayor Gross to oversee the program, discussed some of the problems they have encountered in their effort to make the playground program self-sustaining.
This year, the program began charging $75 per child for village children and $150 per child outside the village for the six-week session. The fee, apparently, has forced some parents to decide against sending their children. In 2007, the fee was $25 for village children and before that, it was free.
So with only 100 children instead of the 240 who attended last year, the program is not taking in enough money to cover its costs.
In addition, two days after the program started, director Will Hall learned he had been accepted into the NYC police academy and assistant director Dylan Reitenbach took over. Reitenbach, 20, has been a counselor at the playground for years, He was officially named director by the board on Monday.
To add to their woes, when the town pool sprung a leak and was closed, the playground children no longer had a place to swim. Beginning July 16, the older children are going to the pool at the New York Military Academy and the younger children to the wading pool at Town Hall Park.
The village board was hit with another surprise in a letter from Cornwall supervisor Kevin Quigley earlier this month informing Mayor Gross that the town will be charging a $1 fee per child each time they use the pool. Quigley said the charge was necessary to cover the cost of utilities, chemicals, water and staffing.
As long as the pool is closed, that issue may be irrelevant, but at Monday’s trustee meeting, members balked at the prospect of paying upwards of $1,000 in additional fees to use the town pool, which, they noted, was already subsidized by taxes paid by village residents.
Trustee Rick Gioia acknowledged at the meeting that some people who were used to getting the program for free were not happy with the summer playground this year. But fellow trustee Gosda noted that it is still really bargain and she said educational programs are being added, including a presentation by the Hudson River Estuary program and a DARE program from the village police department.
“We won't reach our goal of being self-sustaining this year,” Gioia noted, adding later “but the spirit of the program is still there.”
Comments:
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I can understand the frustration of the village residents to pay more this year, we are all feeling a crunch now. The town residents are paying $175 per child to attend the summer playground (not including trip fees), and non residents are up to $400 per child. They should be thankful they aren't paying what the town folks are.
posted by liseannedg on 07/17/08 at 10:20 AM
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