One of many new rules offered by the Texas Department of State Health Services that would go into effect next year, the increase in licensing fees would be based on the number of campers and type of the camp. (Estonianmama/Shutterstock)
Nearly five months after the Hill Country floods led to the deaths of at least 136 Texans, including children, state officials have proposed new summer camp licensing fees to help increase safety measures.
One of many new rules offered by the Texas Department of State Health Services that would go into effect next year, the increase in licensing fees would be based on the number of campers and type of the camp.
Current fees:
- Day camps: $250 startup; $52-$155 renewal
- Residential: $750 startup; $103-$464 renewal
Proposed fees:
- Day camps: $950–$3,500 startup (by size)
- Residential: $2,150–$21,000 startup (by size)
- Renewal: $750–$19,500
These new fees are part of a larger act of legislation passed earlier this year in the wake of the Camp Mystic floods. Camp Mystic is set to reopen next summer with a slew of enhanced safety measures.
Many smaller camps have raised concerns about these new fees, as most of them operate as small nonprofits; the increased costs could potentially put them out of business.
However, Dan Neal, a representative of camp lobbying firm Camping Association of Mutual Progress and owner of Georgetown-based Camp Doublecreek, told The Texas Tribune that most camp owners recognize the increase is necessary to allow DSHS to hire additional inspectors and rebuild the youth camp program.
It is unclear whether the camps would pass these new costs onto families.
“This causes an undue burden for smaller or more remote camps,” according to a survey response from Livingston-based Boxwoods camp obtained by The Texas Tribune. “All the costs that are a result of this legislation should not be passed on to camps.”
COURIER HTX asked Texans on various social media platforms what their thoughts were on these new fees.
“If they actually even hire people to do the camp inspections, fine. But they won’t. Seems like a money grab to put more cash into our general fund that won’t be spent for some reason. If they want to raise the fees like that, they need to prove they’re actually creating the positions and hiring for them first.” — Texas Reddit user
“The camps that care are going to do things the right way anyway. The camps that don’t they’ll just raise fees to the campers. My sister’s camp is on a different river. They didn’t trust the FEMA maps, and did their own flood survey and used the more restrictive version of both to make sure their cabins were safe. And this was years ago. They had to restrict some cabins and spaces as daytime use only, and built some new ones higher up. Every place a person sleeps is well above any potential flood line short of a portal to the bottom of the great lakes opening up. They keep the kids safe. I could go on about the things my sister has mentioned they do to keep kids safe and there’s many things I have no idea about. But suffice to say the camp understands one incident can undo decades worth of good press and good will.” — Texas Reddit user
“How much savings will it take most parents to risk their children not returning from summer camp? Remember, this proposal is because several children never came home.” — Texas Reddit user
“Clearly the state wasn’t looking too closely at safety issues with some of the long term camps on the river. I think the expenditure on the disaster response requires more vigilance from the state to make sure that kind of catastrophe won’t happen again. Unfortunately the camps that did have proper emergency plans in place and executed them without loss of life will be lumped in with the ones that didn’t. It’s not fair to the taxpayers in those counties to shoulder the majority of the cost of the new regulatory processes. The costs mentioned will probably put some generational family seasonal businesses in that area unable to continue, as liability insurance is probably jacked up, too.” — Houston Nextdoor user
“Those camps cost $4,000 a month. The parents can afford an increase.” — Houston Nextdoor user
