MILL HALL — Due to a constant increase in costs, the Keystone Central School District Board of Directors is looking at the makeup of its Summer Recreation Program.

The program first began in the 1960s by its superintendent and prior to the consolidation of the area high school’s into Central Mountain. Since then, the 8-week program has taken place in various parks throughout the county and offers activities to youth during the summertime.

Board Member Jeff Johnston, who serves as chair of the finance committee, offered a rundown of conversations had during the committee’s recent meeting at the board’s work session.

Johnston said the cost for the program continues to increase, with the previous year’s costs roughly $70,000.

“The reason the cost is going up is because the wages for people who work in the program,” he said. “There are people assigned to each program that is tied into the contract with the teachers.”

Johnston said, through the contract and through inflation, staff for the program are paid roughly $20 per hour.

The cost for the program is heavily covered by the district each year, with some donations coming in from area municipalities and the county.

“The district pays about a little over $50,000 of that which we have done over the years,” he said.

According to Johnston, the amount in contributions has decreased, with the most recent coming from Clinton County Government. He said the county informed the district it would be eliminating the $8,700 it typically allocated to the program, from its budget for 2025.

Clinton County Commissioner Angela Harding told The Express the decision to remove the summer recreation program allocation from its budget isn’t an easy one.

“Like everywhere, county costs are rising. During our budget process, the commissioners had to prioritize contributions to outside organizations and programs. Our objective is to assist in providing support to the programs and services that are not directly the county government’s responsibility and continue that financial support without raising taxes,” Harding said. “We believe the summer parks program is a great program. We support education and the county’s youth. It is our hope that the school district will be able to redesign a program that fits within their budget.”

Johnston said the board needed to discuss what to do moving forward.

“What we need to discuss and decide is, does the district — even minus the money that we won’t be getting from the county — want to continue the program as it is,” he said.

He noted the finance committee discussed sending letters out to municipalities whose parks host the programs to request an increase in allocated funding in the coming year.

“We need to talk about it now because all of these municipalities are setting their budgets now,” he said.

During board discussion, Board Member Chris Scaff noted the finance committee discussed potentially reducing the number of weeks from eight to six in an effort to cut costs.

Superintendent Dr. Frank Redmon requested the board consider a dollar amount he and the administration could work with to come up with options moving forward.

“The direction we need from the board is if you want to reduce the scope of the program by offering less time or going to fewer locations,” he said. “Give us some guidance on this so we can move forward.”

Redmon noted that if the board could offer a dollar amount figure the district would be willing to cover — even without outside donations — the administration could offer options moving forward.

“If you give us a dollar figure we can work out what the best is for the most number of kids,” he said.

District CTE Director Kurt Lynch, who runs the summer recreation program, was unavailable for Thursday’s work session to answer questions.

The board elected to hold its discussion until its voting meeting on Thursday, Nov. 14, to allow Lynch the opportunity to answer any questions posed by the board.