Mars Robotics battles rising costs
MARS — Almost 30 parents and students accompanied the Mars Robotics Association to a borough meeting Monday, Feb. 6, in an effort to negotiate the group’s rent.
For a little over a year, the association has been renting the Mars borough building’s basement. In January, the borough told the group that there would be an increase in the space’s rent.
“They were looking to raise our rent,” said Jeff Beckstead, Mars Robotics president and mentor, “and being a donation-funded organization, it’s a stretch.”
Students in the organization highlighted its programs and benefits to the Mars community in a presentation for council members, who discussed the proposed raise in executive session after the meeting.
“The increase in rent with the borough would make another burden on either raising dues or taking other programmatic money away,” Beckstead said. “Right now, our rent is a sixth of our budget, and the rest of that goes primarily to the student programs.”
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