Higher facility rental costs that went into effect this year at Leyden School District 212 are “very difficult to absorb,” according to a representative from a local theater who requested that district officials consider a lower rate structure for the organization.
Judy Sheehan of the Rising Stars Theatre Co. attended the school board’s July 19 meeting, at which she made a presentation regarding the new costs that were approved in December and went into effect Jan. 1. Leyden officials said rental fees previously had not increased in decades.
The Rising Stars Theatre Co. is a nonprofit organization located in Franklin Park. It has been putting on shows at Leyden facilities since 2015. The rental for the auditorium is now $400 a day, plus additional charges of $70 per hour for Leyden personnel who would be assigned to the event. This is up from $175.
The Rising Stars Theatre’s fall show is the first one that would be subject to the new rate structure because the June show received approval in April 2017. District 212 honored the old rate structure for all contracts signed in 2017 for 2018.
Sheehan called the new costs “very difficult for us to absorb” and said they would would “more than double” the cost of producing one of their shows.
If the district were to lower the costs for the theater company, Sheehan said the organization would be willing to offer a $200 scholarship for Leyden students looking to pursue theater education. The scholarship would need board approval.
Sheehan said an average of about 10 percent of the theater’s 30- to 40-person casts come from Leyden Township.
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“We are building rapport in the community,” said Sheehan.
At the end of 2017, the new rate structure for the rental of Leyden’s facilities was announced. Chief School Business Official Patrick Hatfield said research into a new cost structure began in 2015, prompted because it had been so long since rental fees for Leyden facilities had gone up.
“When they did study this before, and they did do a very thorough job of looking at other schools and other venues in the area, they did make sure they were pricing this fairly,” Hatfield said.
The board made no immediate decision in the case of Sheehan’s request. In an email following the meeting, Hatfield said that Rising Stars is the first organization to raise a concern about the new rates and the first to go through the process of requesting a waiver.
Sheehan said the group typically puts on 12 performances a year. They typically load in their equipment on Sundays and host rehearsals from Monday through Thursday, then host their shows Friday through Sunday for two weekends. This equates to roughly 11 evenings per show, Sheehan said.
Sheehan noted that some school districts in the area adopted a tiered structure for facility rental charges, and members in the community would not be subject to as high a fee as someone from outside of the town or district. Hatfield acknowledged the tiered structure but noted that those rates after review would not be significantly lower for Rising Stars because of the amount of time the theater company needed.
Gregory Ignoffo, president of the Leyden school board, said the increase in price took place because “we have been so low compared to other districts.” He said it is important that the district covers its own costs when it comes to rentals, but also that the board wants to make sure taxpayers receive a “return on investment” when it comes to the rentals.
Hatfield said that the new fee structure needed to “strike a balance” so that Leyden was encouraging outside use of the facilities but taxpayers were not shouldering the burden of paying for outside events.
Sheehan agreed that, for a public school, Leyden’s rates before the increase were low. Leyden has also been flexible with Rising Stars about the amount of time they required to prepare for a show.
“They’ve been very, very good to us,” Sheehan said.
Sheehan has been looking into alternative locations for staging the theater’s fall performance.
“A lot of facilities can’t accommodate us because of the time,” said Sheehan. “Leyden has been excellent with that.”
The company also considered raising ticket prices, but Sheehan thinks the current plan will instead focus on restructuring how they use their time in Leyden’s facilities to cut down on the amount of time needed to rent to cut down on costs so that they can stay at Leyden.
“We really like it there,” Sheehan said.