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Thousand Oaks

Rec Leagues Call Foul on Fee Hikes

With virtually no advance discussion with affected groups, CVUSD sharply raised facility fee rates for non-profit, local youth sports leagues, claiming the move is in the name of “equity and accessibility.” But youth league presidents are calling out the district, saying hikes are unfair and inequitable, and speculating about whether or not the decision is motivated by money.

“We don’t want to pick a fight with the CVUSD,” new Thousand Oaks Little League (TOLL) president Chris Helin says, “but they’ve got to realize, when they’re wrong, they’re wrong. When you have a taxpayer base one hundred percent based in Thousand Oaks already paying for these people’s salaries and the school grounds, and then to say, ‘Oh, we’re going to raise your rates,’ and, ‘Well, the opportunity is there to fundraise’ — it’s like a triple tax. It’s insane to me.”

The Conejo Youth Flag Football Association (CYFFA) calculates their $3,000 fees will multiply to more than $14,000. Conejo Youth Basketball Association (CYBA) predicts a $35,000 addition to their current $11,000 rate, and TOLL is bracing for similar percentage increases.

If the rates continue the way they are projected, “This will put CYBA out of business,” Duane Burton, president of CYBA and TOLL board member, says.

These hikes come at a time when families are recovering from COVID-related lockdowns, and physical activity presumably should be prized by the community.

CVUSD hired School Services California, Inc., to perform an audit of the school district’s facility use program. Among the recommendations from the company’s June 18 report was to “Dispense with the legacy rate for select users.” However, Gus Gougas, president of CYFFA, says it is tackle football programs with local high schools that held legacy rates, not non-profit youth leagues now facing steep rate hikes.

He says the CVUSD intentionally provided newspapers with misleading information — and that local media carried water for the district’s decision.

“Some of the things that frustrated me about the intentional misinformation that the Acorn printed — that they got this information from the district. It was intentionally misleading people, and they did this to discredit our organizations and to dissuade public opinion against us,” he says. “Legacy rates were created decades ago so the youth Pop Warner tackle football leagues could use high school stadiums for practices and games. They created special rates for them. … [But] it was for youth tackle football leagues only, so to intentionally say our organizations have been benefiting from legacy rates for decades is a lie — and [local media sources] knew it was, but they did that to make the public think, ‘Oh, these guys have been paying nothing for decades, and now they’ve got to pay their fair share.’”

Gougas says Thousand Oaks Girls Softball Association (TOGSA), CYFFA, CYBA, and TOLL pay a public, published rate that any new, non-profit athletic organization would pay, and clarified that they pay a season rate for fields that, for CYFFA, comes out to roughly $5 an hour, not the reported $1.69.

“There’s no special treatment, no handshake deals that we are getting,” he says. “None of us pay [legacy rates]. … The rates we pay, anybody can pay, so the handshake deals they say [exist] don’t exist. Not to us. But they’re just trying to do this to sway public opinion against us to justify them in raising their rates.”

Gougas and Helin claim the CVUSD passed the rate raises in a vacuum — without considering the impacts on youth sports programs and without contacting leagues to understand them, though some leagues have corresponded with the board via email.

“They can say till they’re blue in the face that they did, but it’s not true,” Helin says.

Communication ceased when COVID hit, and CVUSD eliminated community meetings and never reinstated them, he points out.

“No one ever reached out to Thousand Oaks Little League. No one ever reached out to TOGSA. No one ever reached out to CYBA. No one ever reached out to CYFFA,” Helin says.

The CVUSD board backtracked somewhat after being inundated with emails, eventually deciding to spread the fee increases equally over four years. Helin deems this a “slow death.”

“This year, it looks like a victory, but next year the prices double,” he says. “We’re trying to eat the costs as much as possible through sponsorships and some money in the coffers, but again, that’s not a solution. That’s just a band-aid going forward.”

Worsening the sting is the fact that the non-profit leagues have given generous gifts and countless volunteer hours to host schools and for field maintenance. Gougas points to the $30,000 electronic marquee CYFFA gifted to Redwood Middle School twelve years ago and says the clean, gopher-free fields have been at the leagues’ expense. TOLL invests $30,000-40,000 annually in baseball fields they built, leaving CVUSD with no maintenance costs.

Leagues also face a catch-22 when it comes to fees: they will not be able to charge families above the $60 monthly fee without being bumped out of the tier 2 cost bracket and into the higher-charging tier 3 rate schedule, which would mean yet higher facility costs. As for mitigating costs through fundraising, TOLL already fundraises year-round to cover their current rates.

“I think there’s this vision of all of us driving Mercedes-Benz’s and reaping profits off the families of Thousand Oaks, and that’s just not the case,” volunteer president Helin says.

One CVUSD board member even recommended that coaches take a pay cut — apparently not knowing that coaches don’t get paid, and neither do league board members.

“That’s how out of touch these people are,” Helin says. “I mean, they just have no realization of what they’re dealing with. … They’ve kind of poked a bear.”

League heads say no other programs are vying for the district’s facilities.

“The district has put out multiple times that this is about fair and equitable use and that there are other user groups that want to use them,” Burton says. “Which is quite frankly a lie. … I know all the guys that run the club teams. I’ve been affiliated with them; most of them came through CYBA, and they have no desire to use the outdoor courts at Redwood. Zero. They have no desire to use the indoor gyms on Saturdays at Redwood, or Colina, or Los Cerritos because, quite frankly, it’s just too expensive for them.”

Helin seconds Burton’s sentiment: “It’s not for equitable use of field time. I can tell you that because no one else uses the Colina fields except us for the baseball diamonds.”

Gougas and Helin both suspect the motive is simply money.

“It’s money. I have no doubt,” Helin says. “I have no doubt [CVUSD] is losing numbers. Kids are leaving the schools for all sorts of reasons. Suddenly they have a shortcoming or shortfall, and what better way than to charge more for your fields?”

Gougas agrees.

“If you look at CVUSD’s enrollment for the last fifteen years, it’s gone down every year — every year,” he says. “This year is no different. It’s the lowest it’s been. We both know that for every kid that goes to school, [the school district is] paid, and the less kids that go to school, they’re paid less, so they’re making a lot less money. … That is one of the reason’s they’re raising rates — they need revenue.”

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