Rental venue raises prices to cover expenses; nonprofit unhappy
Jackie Hutz of Penn Township, who runs the nonprofit group Team Fishguy Transplant Foundation, rented Cooper Hall in Saxonburg's Roebling Park in 2019 for the foundation's first Night at the Races fundraiser. She paid $200 for the hall rental at that time.
Hutz decided to hold another Night at the Races in the fall, but was shocked to discover the fee to rent the hall had risen to $1,575 for a Saturday rental and an additional $400 if the renter sets up on Friday.
She said she was told that because of her nonprofit status, the fee would likely be reduced by the borough council if she attended a meeting to make the request.
Hutz did so at the August borough meeting, but no motion was made by any of the council members to give her group a break on the price.
“We are a small nonprofit,” Hutz said. “We are hoping to raise $10,000 or $12,000 to help transplant patients and their families, and when you put this high cost to rent someplace to have an event, it just handicaps us from the beginning.”
She said she had signed the contract for her Nov. 20 event at Cooper Hall with the understanding that council would likely give her a price break. “I never expected them to say no,” Hutz said. “I expected them to at least lower it. Unfortunately, it did not work out our way.”
She wonders if the prices are scaring off other renters, as no other rentals appear after her event through March on the online rental page for Cooper Hall.“We love Saxonburg,” Hutz said. “We love Cooper Hall. It has a capacity of 300 people and parking.”Hutz raised $44,000 to help pay for expenses incurred when her husband, William, received a donor kidney in May 2018 after two grueling years of dialysis.She formed Team Fishguy Transplant Foundation to raise money to support transplant patients, donors and their families while raising awareness of organ donation.A canvas of a few other rental venues in the area show lower pricing.Middlesex Volunteer Fire Company charges $600 to $650 to rent its hall on weekends. Herman Volunteer Fire Company, which accommodates 250, charges $300 for a nonprofit hall rental on a Saturday. Highfield Hall in Butler Township, which holds up to 350, would charge about $400.The 300-seat Tanglewood Senior Center, also in Butler Township, normally charges $700 on a Saturday, but gives a 50% price break for nonprofits holding a fundraiser.Unionville Volunteer Fire Company charges $100 per hour or a total of $250 for an event lasting more than two hours, but its hall only holds 100 people.The Vagabond Center in the Lyndora section of Butler Township would charge a nonprofit holding a fundraiser about $500 on a Saturday to rent half of its large hall, which holds 750 people.
Mary Papik, Saxonburg borough manager, explained the borough has incurred major and unexpected expenses for upkeep and improvements at the aging Cooper Hall. She listed a new roof, a sewage pump and landscaping as some of those expenditures. The council approved the increase in rental fees at the end of 2019 to pay for the outlay on Cooper Hall, Papik said.She confirmed that nonprofit organizations received reduced prices in the past, but the borough funds spent on the venue precluded any further price breaks.“That was the determination made by council, because we had so many nonprofits who were asking for a reduced rate, and we just couldn't afford it,” Papik said. “We are hopeful that as we recover from (the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic) and more people rent the hall, that we will be able to go back to doing something that will help the nonprofits.”Councilman Scott Herbst agreed, saying that nonprofits were requesting price breaks on Cooper Hall at nearly every monthly council meeting before the new prices were approved.
“In the past, when money was not quite so tight, we were able to help people out,” Herbst said. “But unfortunately we just can't do it now.”He said vandalism at the hall necessitated security cameras, and a dehumidification system was added to prevent the growth of mold.Those expenses and others were not in the borough's budget, Herbst said.“These things come up and as much as we would love to be able to give everyone who has a good nonprofit good pricing to rent the hall, we just can't do it,” he said.He said the council is trying to be creative and proactive by planning events at the venue, whose profits will benefit the Saxonburg Museum nonprofit, which could then lower hall rental fees.An acoustic songwriters forum is being planned for Nov. 5 to raise money for the upkeep of Roebling Park, Cooper Hall and the Saxonburg Museum, Herbst said.“We're talking about other events as well,” he said. “We're not just trying to drum up rentals. We're trying to do events to raise money.”Hutz hopes her Night at the Races will sell out.“Coming out of the pandemic, so many places are making exceptions to help the nonprofits that struggled with the lack of the ability to raise funds in the last year and a half,” she said. “That's why I was hoping Saxonburg would help us out.”More information and tickets to the Night at the Races are available at teamfishguy.com.
