School board bails out youth groups

Reserve fund to partially offset impact of lost $850,000 grant cancelled by Ford government

Hamilton’s public school board will tap a reserve fund for up to $100,000 to soften the blow to non-profit youth groups hit with steep rental fee increases for afterhours use of gyms following an $850,000 cut to subsidies by the Ford government.

Trustees on the board’s finance and facilities committee approved a onetime bailout after hearing many groups were caught off guard when informed of their new rates in September.

They also agreed to write a letter to the Ministry of Education detailing the impact of the lost provincial subsidy.

“We can only go by what we’re currently receiving,” board chair Alex Johnstone said. “I would hope that there’s not more significant changes.”

Associate director Stacey Zucker said groups who applied for rentals for the current school year by a July 19 deadline were eligible for a subsidy from a $310,000 fund set aside for recreational programs, but didn’t know how much it would be.

“I think it’s important for us to be able to tell groups how much they’re going to pay,” she said. “That to me was the only thing that was unknown here. Everybody knew that the subsidy had decreased.”

Zucker said the board had less money to offset rental charges because the Ford government cancelled an $850,000 grant for programs at priority schools in areas with higher poverty, leaving just the $310,000 pool for recreational subsidies at all schools.

Eligible weekday programs at priority schools continue to get a full subsidy on their rates, designed to recover costs, but those that received a 75 per cent break at other schools saw their subsidy reduced.

Zucker said rental rates also increased by 2.3 per cent on Sept. 1 to keep up with inflation and a new fee took effect for larger double gyms at several high schools, raising their hourly charge to $75 from $61.80.

She said the bailout acknowledges groups didn’t know their rates when they signed on in July and will come from a reserve fund created by profitable rentals, money usually used to help cover wear-and-tear costs from all outside user groups.

“I want to make it very clear that this would be a one-time use of this funding,” Zucker said, adding groups in future will know their rates when they apply for a subsidy and will decide if they can afford them.

“We don’t have a reserve that we’ll be able to continuously dip into to offset these costs, so we need to look at different solutions.”

Zucker said staff have worked with groups to help lower their fees, including by finding smaller, cheaper spaces that meet their needs when possible.

She said the board also plans to separate charges for gyms and change rooms next year to lower rates for those not needing the latter.