Our bank hasn't ever charged us an excess item fee ... I think we dump in close to 200 when everyone pays dues at the beginning of the year, but I've never tracked it.

We do pay for buses; actually, 2 years ago, we started charging a field trip fee specifically to offset the costs. Field trips and in-school enrichment programs are the biggest items on our budget, about half our ~$40k budget.

The fee you're complaining about is called an excess item fee. Banks vary in the fees that they charge, so it definately is worth checking around in your area. The only time we have a problem with the excess item fee is when we run our big fundraiser. It sounds silly to hold checks until the next month, but that's exactly what we did. It was only about 2 weeks because we just had to get into the next month, not wait a full month. We kept them in the school safe. No one complained about their checks not clearing quickly. In our case, this bank had the best deal for our PTO in every other area, so we decided to stay with the bank. Excess Item Fees are high. Ours is 25cents per item, so it's worth it to manage the deposits to avoid the fee. Be sure to find out how the bank views cash with respect to excess item fees. I think our current bank views each cash deposit as one item, but a prior bank used the rule $100 cash = 1 item.

To address the original question in this thread about budgeting...

Our PTO doesn't pay for field trip buses because the cost is so high and the money adds up quickly. We might help offset the cost of the field trip in general, but we avoid worrying about that level of detail by allocating a certain amount of our budget (about 7%) to the Principal's discretion. Our budget includes detailed line items for things like classroom supplies, technology, Media Center, department-level grants, Family Events, enrichment activities, student and staff recognition, etc.

I can see why you're not a fan. Her advice to just hold checks for a month would go over like a lead balloon with the parents who tend to get highly irritated when their checks aren't promptly deposited so they can clear.

We tryed while we were there to get them to waive it, the lady there just told us to hold checks until the next month. The fee is like .10 per check which I think is a lot! The thing is we're a new PTO presidency with pretty much no records from the past two years so I am not sure if we ever even get 200 checks. Just thought I would ask to see if this seems normal. Not a huge fan of Key Bank anyway. Thanks.

Our bank does neither of the above-- we can deposit as many checks as we have and whatever the eamount is-- there might be a 1-2 day hold as the check clears from a company-- we do get charged a fee for a bounced check-- whether from a parent or company-- but then we put that charge on the person bouncing the check. Go in and talk to the manager about this-- maybe they can waive these fees knowing it's for a school.

Our bank charges us if we deposit over "x" number of checks a month, but we have been able to convince them to waive the fees. They do not charge us for checks over a certain amount (that's outrageous!)

Keep checking around with other banks in your area to see if you can find one that offers better terms.