Families in Raymond, N.H., and surrounding communities are voicing frustration with the town after it indicated a youth football program that has enjoyed access to a specific field for 46 years must now pay a fee or find another place to play.
As reported by ABC affiliate WMUR in Manchester, the Tri-Town Renegades is a youth football and cheerleading program serving kids in Epping, Raymond and Newmarket. After a disagreement with the Raymond High School football team, program directors for the Renegades said that they were told they have to pay $25,000 to lease the field, after years of not having a formal contract, WMUR's Arielle Mitropoulos reported.
According to Renegades president Jake Bentley, "$25,000 would just not be sustainable, [it] would be over 30% of our operating budget, and like I said, all the money goes back to the kids. Nobody in our program takes a dime. It is all volunteers."
The Renegades claim they have helped maintain the field and its field house for years. Meanwhile, the town contends that it has spent approximately $11,650 in taxpayer money on painting and labor for the field.
A member of the Raymond Selectboard told WMUR that an agreement regarding field usage could have been reached for a mere $6,000 rental fee.
Selectboard member Rani Merryman said the board received notification that the team had found and would be moving to other facilities rather than sign the $6,000 contract that was offered. "We were sad about that," Merryman said, as reported by WMUR. "But that was the decision that we found out that they made."
"Deep down, you know what you're doing is wrong," one parent from Raymond said, referring to the board and its recent actions.
"The Raymond Selectboard said that they are not trying to be the villain in this story, and understand the importance of children playing sports," Mitropoulos wrote. "However, they stressed that they still have protocols to follow to ensure things are done right."
"I'm just sad kids have a short window of when they can be kids," Merryman said, per Mitropoulos' WMUR report. "We also have a job to do. And as I said, we have been in the midst of correcting processes, and this was just one more process that needed to be corrected."
