Rio Rancho school board raises parking, venue gate and facilities fees

RIO RANCHO — Families of Rio Rancho Public Schools and community members will have to pay a little more for sporting events, parking and renting district facilities starting this coming school year.

The RRPS Board of Education approved an increase in fees Monday following a presentation from district officials, who made the request based on the cost of upkeep with facilities.

“Why are we doing this? The simple answer is that our facilities get used a lot, not just from the schools, but also the community,” Mike Baker, RRPS’s chief operations officer, told board members and Superintendent Sue Cleveland during the meeting. “Because of that, there’s a lot of wear and tear, and in order to keep our facilities in top condition, we have to maintain those.”

He was accompanied by RRPS Athletic Director Todd Resch, who told board members some fields would not be operational at start of the school year due to a lack of maintenance, which fees will help pay for.

The board’s decision marked the first time the district had raised fees since 2021, Cleveland told board members and administrators during the meeting.

In terms of fees, the costs for varsity football game admission and sub-varsity athletic events will increase $1, while other varsity events will rise $2, according to information provided by the district.

Specifically, varsity football single night seatback for all ages will rise from $9 to $10; bleacher seating for adults will rise from $7 to $8; and bleacher seating for students and senior citizens will rise from $4 to $5.

Non-football varsity events for adults will rise from $6 to $8; non-football varsity events will rise from $3 to $5 for students and senior citizens.

Sub-varsity events for adults will rise from $5 to $6; and sub-varsity events for students and senior citizens will rise from $2 to $3.Board members Amanda Galbraith, Gary Tripp and Jeffrey Morgan were mostly in agreement over the need to increase fees, which were all voted on separately. But Galbraith, the board president, voted down increasing the cost of gate receipts because she was critical of the increased cost in fees at any athletic event besides football.

Galbraith, who noted that she helped the district garner gate receipts at a track event, said her interactions with some district constituents led her to believe that those living in Native American pueblos are “very upset that we are charging so much ... when they are coming for one thing that is going to take two minutes.” Galbraith added that she was “nervous” what the fee increase could mean as the school board asks residents to vote for another bond this November.

Resch told Galbraith that the reason for a steeper gate receipt fee increase is because the funds will go to athletic fields, not for other costs associated with his office.

He noted that Rio Rancho High School’s soccer field will be taken offline this school year and games will be held at the football stadium. Eagle Ridge Middle School will play at Lincoln Middle School due to other operational shutdowns.

“There’s this domino effect when a field is offline,” Resch told the board.

But the increase in fees, he said, will help address the district’s need to have athletic fields ready for its athletics and community to use.

During the discussion on fees, Cleveland said school officials will likely have to “think differently” about how to fund district projects.

“We’re not going to be able to accomplish those things with gate receipts alone,” she said, “but Mike (Baker) has tried very hard to support the projects as they have come up.”