School officials in Coeur d'Alene are considering whether they should increase the price that outside groups are now paying to use the district's sports fields. "My goal in all this is to ensure that we are being responsible stewards of the taxpayer's money, that we are not either charging too much or charging too little," said Superintendent Matt Handelman. Wendell Wardell, the district's chief operations officer, told trustees Monday during their regular monthly meeting that the current athletic field rental fee of $3.75 for up to four hours of use is significantly less than the cost to maintain the fields. Wardell said the district's field-use fees have not been updated "for some time," but costs have gone up. "If you look at it, we're hemorrhaging money, especially with our outside fields"/Maureen Dolan, Coeur d'Alene Press. More here. (Press photo by Shawn Gust: Coeur d’Alene Sting Soccer Club U-8 players go up for a ball Monday)

Vice Chairman Christa Hazel via Facebook: I am not in support of raising rates, especially to the level proposed, until I am shown data that proves we are losing money by renting fields to organized programs that involve hundreds of kids and families in our community.

Question: It seems to me a small increase in fees might be in order. But that the Coeur d'Alene School District should realize that its constituents also use those fields. Thoughts?