ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
In past years, local non-profits hosting events at the Seward County Fairgrounds have requested facility fee waivers for those events, and those requests have mostly been approved by the county commission.
Soon, those waivers could be gone and replaced with a reduced fee for agencies.
County commissioners will be looking at revising the fee policy for non-profits at the board’s regular meeting Monday night, and information in the agenda packet said revisions were requested to now charge agencies a reduced fee.
“With the implementation of a fee schedule for non-profit organizations, the waiver will be discontinued, and applicants will need to meet specific criteria to qualify for the reduced rate,” the information said.
A proposed fee schedule in the packet said the proposed budget for the fairgrounds for Fiscal Year 2026 was $476,127 with $158,607.40 proposed for benefits for workers at the fairgrounds, making for a total budget of $634,734.40.
The fee schedule gave eight options, six of which were based on total man hours worked with and without benefits and labor based on budgeted amounts for the upcoming fiscal year. At the proposed number of hours worked, 2,080, the fee would be $305.16 per hour with benefits with the $634,734.40 total budgeted for the year, $228.91 per hour without benefits for the $476,127 budget and $122.04 per hour without labor for a $253,835 budget.
It was noted in the information that setup and tear down costs are automatically built into the fee sheet. The remaining options were for flat fees for the Ag Building at $250 and $500 for the Activity Center.
“As we set these non profit fees and conditions, it will be added to their fee list and there will be no more facility waivers coming to the board,” the information said.
A decision on those fees is scheduled to be made just prior to commissioners hearing facility fee waiver requests from some local agencies including:
• Grace Place Pregnancy Care Center for the Ag Building for for Sept. 16;
• Seward County United Way for the Activity Center for Oct. 25;
• SCUW and Bienestar Total for the Activity Center for Dec. 14; and
• The Cinco de Mayo Committee for the Activity Center for Sept. 13-14.
Monday’s meeting is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. in the commission chambers in the Seward County Administration Building.
