Taxpayers helped send employees’ kids to camp — and Beaufort County tried to ‘disguise’ it
Beaufort County Parks and Recreation used two public facilities, staffing and taxpayer funds to provide 10 weeks of summer camp exclusively for county employees’ children and tried to disguise the perk, according to a memorandum sent to employees.
The memorandum, obtained by the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette, gave employees directions on how to register for the subsidized summer camp on the Parks and Recreation website, including clicking on the program titled “Employee Only SC Program.”
“The SC stands for Summer Camp,” the memorandum said. “Since the program is not open to the public, we are doing our best to disguise it.”
The summer camps, which began June 6 and ended Friday, were held at the Charles Lind Brown Center in Beaufort and Bluffton Center in Bluffton. The cost was $30 a week per child — for up to two children — $20 a week for a third child, and $10 per week for a fourth.
By comparison, Love House Learning Academy in Beaufort offered eight weeks of camp this summer for $725, or about $90 a week. For those who just wanted to use the camp occasionally, weekly drop-in rates was $150.
The county spent roughly $28,500 on personnel resources and snacks to run the two camps and collected $17,500 in fees from parents, making the cost to the county about $11,000, said Chris Ophardt, a spokesman for the county.
Ophardt said he understands why the instructions angered some people, but “there was no intent to hide it” from the public despite what he described as terrible wording. The instructions, he said, were an attempt to make clear that the camp was not open to the public, not to disguise the existence of the program.
A total of 110 youths — 35 at the Bluffton location and 75 in Beaufort — signed up for the camps, Ophardt said. Both camp locations are public sites owned and managed by Parks and Recreation.
The program was open to all county employees including elected officials. The county was able to provide the camp at such a low cost, Ophardt said, by using existing administrative staff and giving extra hours to summer employees already hired for other programs. Camp was held daily from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. for children ages 4 through 12.
The exclusive use of the public facilities for summer camp for the children of county employees at a cut-rate price has brought sharp criticism from Beaufort residents. They said the public should have been offered the same benefit and likened it to taxpayer-subsidized child care for a small segment of residents.
Alana Jenkins, chairwoman of the Friends of the Charles Lind Brown Center, said that group, which advocates for the center, was excited that the county was providing the summer camps, but “disappointed to find out it was purely for employees of the county.”
“We know that the needs of parents and caregivers in the summer are really high and there are very few low-cost options,” Jenkins said. “We were hoping this low-cost option would be available to all residents of the county and not just Beaufort County employees.”
The price of the county’s summer camps was amazingly low, Jenkins said. “You can’t even drive to work and back for $30 a week,” she said.
Use of the Charles Lind Brown Center to hold summer camp for the children of county employees came as the Friends group lobbies the county for more access and physical and programming improvements for neighborhood residents, who were recently surveyed on what they wanted to see offered at the center.
The Charles Lind Brown Center is located in the city’s historic Northwest Quadrant neighborhood. Sometimes called the Greene Street Gym, the facility, which has a gym, pool and an outdoor basketball court, has been a popular gathering spot for decades. Until recently, programming has been limited, first by its lease to a private school and then COVID-19.
The summer camp, Jenkins said, was “incredibly impressive” because of the low cost and quality of programming and how quickly the county put it together. It included trips and sports activities.
But during the 10 weeks of the camp, Jenkins said, use of the Charles Lind Brown Center was limited to the public.
“Which creates an incredible challenge,” she said, “considering it’s a public facility and we all should have access to the gym and such.”
The group, Jenkins said, was contacted by the Northwest Quadrant Neighborhood Association and residents about not being able to access the building because of the camp.
County defends program
County Administrator Eric Greenway called the summer camp a success and one of the best employee benefits “we could have offered over the summer.”
When county officials first discussed the idea in April, Greenway said, opening it to the public and employees of municipalities was discussed. But there wasn’t enough time to hire the needed counselors and bus drivers or arrange additional locations to offer it on a broader basis at this time, he said. Therefore, it was recommended that the program only be offered to county employees in the first year, he said.
County officials are now discussing offering the program to the general public next year.
After media inquiries, Greenway wrote an email to County Council members Tuesday updating them on the situation, because “some concerns are circulating regarding the Beaufort County Summer Camp program only being available to County employees and a phrase in one of the notifications about the County trying to ‘disguise’ the program.”
“While the wording was poor, I assure you that the purpose was to limit confusion and protect the public,” Greenway said in the email. “Those who drafted the document did not want a lot of public exposure to the program to publicize that we would have significant numbers of kids in various facilities throughout the summer.”
‘They got caught’
Mitch Mitchell, a member of the Friends group and a Beaufort City Councilman, flatly rejected the explanation that it was just poor wording.
“They said exactly what they intended to say,” Mitchell said. “It’s just they got caught.”
Beaufort officials initially raised concerns about the summer camp in June, Mitchell said, but the county has failed to provide an explanation until now “because you asked about it,” he told an Island Packet reporter.
“I have no objection to using it for summer camp or a day-care center — whatever you choose to call it — but you can’t say it’s exclusively for a select group of people,” Mitchell said.
Parents who work for other employers, such as the City of Beaufort or Walmart deserve the same opportunity to attend a summer camp held in a public facility, Mitchell said. “I’m sure they would like to have child care for $30,” he said.
Children had to bring their own lunch but morning and afternoon snacks were provided. For $10, each child could receive two camp T-shirts. Field trips were an additional cost.
‘Retention, recruiting tool’
Greenway approved the program, Ophardt said, to address rising summer camp costs, which in some cases have tripled. He said County Council members were apprised of the program.
Sending kids to camp is a common way for some parents to meet child care expenses during non-school months. But with camp prices skyrocketing, Ophardt said, some employees were saying they might have to quit their jobs because they could not afford to pay for child care for the summer.
“It was a retention and recruiting tool to start with,” Ophardt said, “knowing we could build on it in future years.”
In the Tuesday email to County Council members, Greenway included an attachment of a Facebook post from county employee Bailey Preacher, who said the county’s summer camp prevented her from having to send her son to live with her parents and attend a church camp in Ridgeland.
“This program is important to people like us,” Preacher wrote, “and it has such an impact on families that are struggling with child care right now.”
This story was originally published August 18, 2022 at 12:32 PM.
