By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
The Lawrence Township Recreation Department provides recreational and leisure activities for township residents, from toddlers to grandparents but the cost of operating the department is not cheap.
Last week, Steven Groeger, the township’s superintendent of recreation, offered three scenarios to Township Council ranging from annual 13-percent fee hikes to hiring a company to provide recreation programs that would make the Recreation Department financially self-sufficient by 2017.
No decision was made at the Nov. 8 meeting.
Mr. Groeger outlined some of the offerings of the Recreation Department, which includes programs for about 6,000 senior citizens through the Office on Aging and the Lawrence Senior Center on East Darrah Lane.
The Recreation Department offers about four dozen programs for children and adults, ranging from youth sports clinics and lessons to adult sports leagues. It also coordinates special events, such as the annual Fourth of July fireworks show, Community Day and the Christmas tree lighting ceremony.
It is a busy department, Mr. Groeger said, noting that there have been more than 3,000 registrations for programs and offerings to date. Since mid-August alone, 660 families have signed up for activities, he said. This includes 750 children and 120 adults who have participated in programs.
The Recreation Department has always had the philosophy that its offerings should not be off-limits to families that cannot pay the fees, so provisions are made for the children of those families, Mr. Groeger said. Financial assistance has been made to 27 families and 41 children, at a cost of $12,000. This is money the department does not collect, he added.
But the cost of offering those programs is not inexpensive. The Recreation Department’s anticipated budget for 2013 is $501,677, which includes operating expenses office supplies, equipment and uniforms for sports teams and miscellaneous costs plus salaries and benefits for the two full-time employees and the seasonal employees.
The fees charged for the recreation programs cover the individual programs’ costs, but not the entire department budget, Mr. Groeger said. A 13-percent hike in program fees for 2013 means the increased revenue combined with grants and permit fees to use township athletic fields and parks would raise $333,144 in revenue.
The net cost to operate the Recreation Department would be $168,533, he said.
But if the fees were increased by 13 percent every year between 2013 and 2017 and revenue from permits and grants remained stable, Mr. Groeger said, the net cost to operate the department would be $2,059 in 2017 even after factoring in increases in operating expenses, salaries and benefits.
A 13-percent hike in fees means the charge for indoor field hockey would go from $70 to $79 for 2013, and the fee for a plot in the community garden would go from $35 to $40. Summer travel camp for teens would go from $265 to $299, and the cost of summer park camps and sports camps would increase from $240 to $271.
Annual 13-percent fee hikes would mean that by 2017, the cost for indoor field hockey would be $129, and a community garden plot would cost $64. Summer teen travel camp would cost $488. The fees for summer park camps and sports camps would be $442.
A second option is to increase the fees by 13 percent for 2013, but to reduce the annual increase to 6 percent in 2014 through 2017 by finding other means of raising revenue, Mr. Groeger said. He suggested finding sponsors and increasing the permit fees.
A third option would be to farm out recreation programs. This would mean finding a company or vendor who could run “some or all” of the Recreation Department programs if such a company or vendor exists in exchange for paying a fee to Lawrence Township, he said.
While a decision has not been made, Councilman Greg Puliti who serves on the township’s Recreation Advisory Committee said Mr. Groeger is working on the issue. The goal is to keep the Lawrence Township Recreation Department alive, he said.
Mr. Puliti and Councilwoman Cathleen Lewis praised Mr. Groeger at the for his efforts, noting that “it will work” whether it is Plan A, B or C.

