Committee looks for ways to increase revenue
By Ken Powers Community Reporter

Westborough - In an eff ort to create revenue through currently untapped sources, the School Committee discussed at a recent meeting the possibility of re-instituting a parking fee for High School students who drive to school as well as re-examining the fees it charges to rent building space to outside organizations hosting events in town.

During an open discussion about possible ways to increase revenue with Dan Hendricks, business director for the district, School Committee member Stephen Doret asked Hendricks about parking fees.

The question arose after Hendricks mentioned that some nearby school districts require their students to pay a parking fee. Hendricks told Doret that Westborough High students are not charged a parking fee and that he was not suggesting that the district assess one, but Doret wanted to raise the topic.

"Every student in town has the opportunity to take a bus to school," Doret said. "A bus that we are already paying for. If they choose not to do that and instead drive to school, they should pay for the privilege to do so. On top of that, it cost money to put the parking lots at the school in, and the upkeep of those lots costs money, too. Who's paying for that? It seems to me that this is an area where a fee structure might make sense."

Hendricks said Westborough High students used to be required to purchase a parking permit for $75 in order to drive their cars to school. Hendricks said the parking fee requirement was suspended several years ago.

"It made sense in the old days because a lot of kids worked after school and there was a need to drive to school so they could then drive to their part-time, after-school job," Doret said. "I'm willing to bet that there are not very many of our High School students that have to go rush right out of school to get to their part-time job."

Hendricks said the only area school districts that charge students to parking are Algonquin and Nashoba Regional high schools. Algonquin charges $40 per semester, while Nashoba charges $75 per year.

When the high school did implement a parking fee, Hendricks said, it was usually able to raise $15,000 a year. He said the money would be added to the town's general fund.

Doret wondered aloud why funds raised from a school parking permit would go to the town and not the School Department. He further suggested creating a revolving fund for the parking fees should they be reinstituted.

Regarding the topic of rental fees, Hendricks said the district is not only quite possibly the most inexpensive one around, but that the rates have not been adjusted for several years.

Westborough currently charges $15 per hour to use any of the school auditoriums, a dramatically lower fee than any charged in surrounding districts. The Assabet Valley Regional School District, for example, charges $500 to organizations wishing to use its auditorium for up to four hours. Marlborough charges $300 for the same amount of time, while Maynard charges $50 per hour.

School Committee member Craig Harris suggested the possibility of a tiered rental fee system for residents be explored and his fellow committee members unanimously agreed with his suggestion.