Summer Camp, Open Swim Fees Increasing

Fees will increase for two popular summer programs run by the township Recreation Department.

Summer Camp and the evening swim programs will see new charges, as a result of action taken February 8 by the Advisory Recreation Council.

The fee for the 6-week summer camp program will increase 2.5 percent, from $625 to $640.

The summer open swim program, which has not charged during the Covid-19 pandemic, will now be $20 for a family of four, with each extra family member costing $5.

The department’s fee waiver program will be in effect for both activities.

The increases were proposed by Recreation Director Beau Byrtus.

Byrtus was also adamant about including the fee waivers for the programs.

“We also offer a fee waiver, so kids are not  not going to get a chance to go to camp,” he said. “From my perspective, I streamlined a lot of that because I hate cumbersome processes for getting free or reduced, because I don’t want to punish somebody.”

“At $150 a week, compared to Oak Crest, where you paying probably $450 to $500 a week … they’re still getting swim lessons, still getting access to the pool, still going on trips,” Byrtus said. “We don’t want there to be obstacles, and we don’t want money to be one of those obstacles.”

Byrtus said that now that life is getting back to normal, post-Covid, this is the right time to reinstate the pool fees.

“Before I came here the pool charged $25 a family for the summer,” he said. “The first summer, we did charge that $25, then Covid hit and we didn’t charge at all, and we haven’t charged since.”

“I’m proposing that we go back to that model of charging,” he said. “I think we could charge $20 for the family for the entire summer. A family is four people, I don’t care what the makeup of that is. Each additional kid we would charge $5 for the entire summer.”

“Our fee waiver system would come into effect as well,” he said. “The idea here is not to put up obstacles for kids, the idea is if a kid has a need, we’re going to take care of it.”

The open swim hours will be 4-8 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, and noon to 8 p.m. on Saturdays.

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