Rent may be going up in the Borough of Coplay. And so might pavilion rental fees. Or, at least, the pavilion rentals may no longer be free to nonprofit groups holding fundraisers.

At Tuesday night's council workshop, a discussion on renewing the lease with the Commitment to Family and Community (CFC) expanded into a question of whether to allow nonprofit groups to rent the borough pavilion for free.

The CFC's current lease expires Feb. 23. Under that agreement, the CFC pays the borough $300 a month rent. It has been paying $300 a month for about six years.

Councilman Charles Sodl questioned whether the rent should be raised.

"I am looking at an asset that belongs to the taxpayers of this town and I am asking the question is it feasible that we can jack up the lease?" said Sodl.

Raising the rent to $450 would bring in an additional $1,800 annually, he said.

"The time has come for us to be concerned about the citizen taxpayers of this community," Sodl said. "We could make more money by making it a storage building than we are now."

Council President Lou Bodish asked if the borough should reconsider other leases, such as one for ballfields used by Coplay Sports for $1 a year.

Perhaps, he said, that rate should be raised as well.

Sodl said each group should be judged on its own merit.

"We should be looking at every asset we have and find out if it's bringing back a plus for us," he said.

Councilman Bill Leiner Jr. also said he doesn't know what the CFC does or whether it provides a service to residents.

"We never required them to tell us what they were doing," he said. "I don't think anyone in this room knows.

"Not knowing that information, how do you make a fair business decision for that group?"

Sodl suggested getting information on the CFC such as how it benefits the community.

Mayor Joseph Bundra, who serves as the borough's liaison to the CFC, said he will find out more about what the CFC does and, perhaps, have some CFC members make a presentation to council at the Jan. 13 meeting.

Councilman Carl Luckenbach expanded the discussion to include the parkway pavilion, referring to a request by the Pediatric Cancer Foundation to lease it for free for an event in March. Most such requests have been granted in the past.

"We're going to lease the pavilion for nothing," Luckenbach said. "How many times are we going to do that?"

Leiner agreed, saying the borough should develop a formula for deciding how and when to give away the use of the pavilion.

During public comment at the end of the meeting, resident Anne Killeen asked council not to vote next week on giving the pavilion for free to the Pediatric Cancer Foundation but rather to develop a new policy for charging rent to nonprofits.

She noted the cancer foundation event is a race and participants pay fees to participate. The event is a fundraiser.

Council members suggested cutting the nonresident rate of $210 in half, but Killeen noted that would mean the group, which makes a lot of money at its event, would be paying less than the $160 she would have to pay as a resident of Coplay to rent the pavilion.

Council agreed to the $160 rate and will vote on it Jan. 13.

"It's a hard call but somebody's got to make it and that's us," said Luckenbach.

It's time for the borough to maximize its assets, said Sodl.

"So let's get the information, make the decision and move on," he said.