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Committee debates whether athletics gate, participation fees should stay in town fund or return to teams
Summary
Ridgefield'area budget committee members pressed administration to show whether gate and participation fees collected for school athletics can be retained by the programs that generated them instead of being pooled into the townwide surplus; administration said those revenues become part of the district'wide balance and proposed bringing the issue to the full board for policy discussion.
The Ridgefield School District Budget, Finance and Operations Committee discussed whether athletics-related revenues should remain in the district'wide fund or be redirected back to the teams that generated them.
Committee Chair Katherine Graph opened the agenda item by asking for feedback on a March reporting change that added an athletics subtotal after a board member suggested the breakdown. "We had requested feedback on those changes," Graph said while outlining the agenda. Administration staff said athletics historically had been a separate cost center, then moved back into general operating reporting, and that the current snapshot includes four revenue lines that can be totaled to show athletics performance.
Miss Brown, the district finance administrator, told the committee athletics revenue lines "have run under budget" across recent fiscal years and that the revenue and expense lines are visible in the monthly snapshot. Committee member Rachel Marino said many parents pay out'of'pocket costs for mandatory camps and booster fees and asked for greater transparency about "where that leftover money is going and how we can maybe give it back to some of those sports teams that are generating that amount of money." Marino added, "I'd like to see it going back to those programs that are collecting the gate fees."
Administration answered that gate and participation fees feed into the district'wide budget and that any surplus at year'end typically becomes part of the townwide balance unless the board elects to place funds into a non'lapsing account under local law. "That could be money that goes back to the town," a staff member said when asked where a possible overage would be recorded.
The committee did not adopt a policy change but agreed to bring the question to the full Board of Education for a broader discussion about the appropriate use of athletics-generated revenue and whether a different accounting or transfer practice would be warranted. The administration said it will produce the requested supplemental breakdowns showing athletics revenues and suggested that the full board discuss whether to direct any year'end surplus back to specific programs.
The committee moved on after agreeing the topic merits board'level consideration.
