Woodstock officials stepped back from a potential hike in summer camp fees, saying they want to avoid a “hardship” for families even as the program’s budget gap widens.
“What I want to start off with is to assure the public and parents that the town board has heard that increasing the cost of the camp is a hardship, and we’re not going to do that,” Supervisor Anula Courtis said at Tuesday’s Town Board meeting.
The decision came after officials said the camp brought in $65,000 of revenue last year, 10% less than the $72,000 it expected, as anticipated expenses jumped 20% to $109,000. She blamed declining enrollment, rising wages, and other costs for the shortfall.
“The trend has been down every year, so we don’t know what we’re going to get,” Courtis said. “And so now we have a very large gap that taxpayers have to fund somehow.”
Board member Lily Korolkoff said she was relieved the matter didn’t come to a vote.
“As somebody who has a child of that age where it’s really critical that they have a summer program, I understand the hardship of increasing, especially in this day and age, the cost of that summer program,” Korolkoff said.
She also said the town should think carefully about how any future fee structure is designed, especially for residents.
“If we’re sacrificing for our kids and for these kids, that’s where we take a loss,” she said.
Parents echoed those concerns, calling the camp an essential option in a town with limited child care and few affordable summer programs.
“One of the last things we should do is to cut the number of days or the number of hours,” said Rebecca Turmo, a Woodstock resident during the meeting.“As a single working parent who worked two jobs raising two kids in this town, I relied on that because I couldn’t send my kids to $10,000 a year summer camp program.”
Officials said they may form a committee to rethink the program, assessing enrollment, staffing, scholarships and possible sponsorships. Courtis said the town would also need to look more closely at the general fund to determine how to cover the camp’s costs this year.
“Next year, since we’ve seen this pattern of not enough money being budgeted, maybe that pattern should change,” she said.