It was announced this summer that the Arizona Interscholastic Association will need to adjust for a $519,000 budget shortfall, the majority of which is being passed along to Arizona athletics programs in the form of new fees.

To help balance this year’s budgetary shortfall, the AIA has terminated three positions within its organization. A series of new fees, however, will be the primary source of funds to make up the difference.

According to Fountain Hills Unified School District Athletic Director Mike Briguglio, the local district is in a unique position and should be able to absorb any new fees comfortably. The major issue, he said, was the late timing of these changes and a lack of communication between the organization and Arizona schools.

“I haven’t been able to calculate the actual potential cost [for FHUSD],” Briguglio said.

“The news came out in June, when nobody was around to make adjustments and many school districts had already approved their budgets for next school year.”

The new fees are broken down into five main categories. First up is a fee ranging from $50 to $350 for teams to enter sectional or state tournaments.

A $100 fee will be applied for all out-of-state teams participating in individual tournaments, and a $10 service charge for each cancellation or game change request that is not deemed beyond the school’s control.

A $15 day pass and $25 all-tournament pass will be applied to state golf tournaments, which appears to be the only major change to the ticket booth pricing.

Finally, there is a $3 charge for the assignment of officials for regular season and tournament games, presumably on top of the fee the school already pays to hire said officials.

“A lot of schools are up in arms because they don’t know how much this is going to cost them,” Briguglio said.

“More than that, though, I think it’s the fact that people have already turned their budgets in, and then to have this come down at the last minute has been upsetting. Also, it was done without any kind of consultation, which I think is a thorn in peoples’ sides.”

Briguglio, however, said that the athletic department is not a line item for the local district, as FHUSD athletics is a rare instance of a self-funded program in the state.

“We have a lot more flexibility, so we’ll be able to adjust,” Briguglio said.

“I’m not worried about covering the cost so much as how this happened. There are other districts, though, where the new costs will likely be a point of concern.”

As for how FHUSD’s athletics programs have managed to thrive while some Arizona schools are having to cut programs, Briguglio said the local schools have the community to thank for its support.

“We’ve been blessed,” he said.

“From generosity of our booster club, to people using the tax credit program to the full extent, to coaches taking on more responsibility without taking more money, all of those pieces form our success story.”

Briguglio said he doesn’t expect the final figure to be a “big number” for Fountain Hills Unified, ranging from between $1,000 to $5,000. Another major problem, he said, is that the exact fees and how they will be paid have not been disclosed.

“There’s been no response from the AIA on these matters,” Briguglio said.

“They haven’t really disclosed anything which, again, is one of the big problems people have with the way this was handled.”

Briguglio said that FHUSD has not raised athletic fees in a number of years and, for this first year, he expects to be able to absorb the difference without any major changes to the way local athletics do business.

“It will be interesting to see how this all shakes out,” Briguglio concluded.

“I think we’ll be hearing more about this once the school year gets rolling. I know as much about this as everyone else. I’m curious how districts will respond once we have more concrete information.”