IN the lead up to annual registrations, Lake Illawarra Little Athletics Club have little concern the recent club break-ins will affect the yearly intake.
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Earlier this year, the club were considering raising the registrations fees to cover the costs of break-ins to the club facilities.
Club registrar, Kevin McGarry said the club decided to keep the fees at $95 per child and will instead hold raffles to generate some funds for the club.
“It’s not the fault of the families or the children, so we are doing other things to cover the costs,” Mr McGarry said.
Last month, the club called on Shellharbour Council to fix the canteen and storage facility with secure roller doors and CCTV cameras, to help reduce criminal activity in the park. Council has since replaced the canteen door with a new steel door but despite this, the club was again targeted by thieves.
“The new roller door on the canteen seems to be going well but because the thieves couldn’t get into the canteen, they attempted to break into the storage shed,” Mr McGarry said.
“The roller door seems to be helping but only time will tell.”
Mr McGarry said the club was still hopeful council would consider fitting CCTV cameras to deter any criminal activity. Little A’s also recently requested funds of $600 from council to cover the excess on insurance claims.
At the last council meeting on July 22, council resolved to allocate half ($300) to the club from the Miscellaneous Donations budget.
Shellharbour councillor Peter Moran requested the club receive $500 because the money was purely to cover insurance excess from the three occasions the facility had been broken into.
“We have provided them a club that is apparently prone to break in,” Cr Moran said.
“Given the fact they only asked for $600 for insurance excesses and given that council has accepted that a better of standard of facility should have been provided, I think it’s entirely appropriate that we help them out and take $200 extra out of the next three rounds of allocations.”
Mr McGarry said it “makes life harder” when council refuse to allocate “such a small amount” for a non-for-profit community organisation.
Registrations open on Sunday, August 3.