SP Day Camp Registration Soars After Change in Costs

The Scotch Plains Recreation Department has seen signups for its summer day camp soar after deciding to change the costs of the program.

The program was originally supposed to cost $140 for a two-week session, up from a $70 fee last year that covered the whole summer. But after only about 25 children registered for 2009, the recreation department reached out to parents and discovered that the rise in costs was what was holding them back.

Recreation Department Director Ray Poerio said the department initially tried to charge $140 for a two-week session because parents said they’d prefer the option of only signing up for a few weeks instead of paying for the whole summer, as was the case in the past. But when rising costs made that two-week session fee double what the program cost for the entire summer last year, parents hesitated to register.

After deciding to allow the $140 two-week fee cover the entire summer, Poerio said the program saw its registration increase from 25 children to 125 children.

“They got a steal,” Poerio said. “At $140 for two weeks, it would’ve been $2.33 an hour, now it’s so cheap it’s not even funny.”

The move wasn’t made without impacting the recreation commission, though.

The summer day camp program is funded 50 percent by the township and 50 percent by revenues. But because this year’s revenues will be less than they’d hoped and thus won’t meet the rising costs of the day camp, Poerio said the recreation commission decided to take money out of its trust fund to pay for expenditures.

“Fiscally it’s not best thing to do in the world, but philosophically, given these economic times, the decision the commission made was to underwrite the program,” Poerio said.