Put away the lawn mower
In a split vote, the board of the Washington County Tourism Promotion Agency agreed Thursday to devote $500,000 in hotel tax revenue for the next several years to provide artificial turf for Consol Energy Park.
Baseball Scholarships Inc., owner of the stadium, has also tapped a match of state taxpayers’ money for the $1 million project. BSI hopes to have the turf in place by the spring of 2010.
After an hour-long discussion, the board split 8-3 on the issue with Terry Hazlett, Jamie John and Tom Northrop voting not to enter into the agreement. Abstaining were Chris Blaine, marketing for the Wild Things, and Susan Ryan, who works for California University, which plays its home baseball games at the ballpark.
For more on this story, read Friday's Observer-Reporter.
Baseball Scholarships Inc., owner of the stadium, has also tapped a match of state taxpayers’ money for the $1 million project. BSI hopes to have the turf in place by the spring of 2010.
After an hour-long discussion, the board split 8-3 on the issue with Terry Hazlett, Jamie John and Tom Northrop voting not to enter into the agreement. Abstaining were Chris Blaine, marketing for the Wild Things, and Susan Ryan, who works for California University, which plays its home baseball games at the ballpark.
For more on this story, read Friday's Observer-Reporter.
Labels: Artificial turf
posted by Chris Dugan at
12:21 PM
5 Comments:
Once again the taxpayer gets screwed.
BSI, the Wild Things et al. can KMA.
Repost from the league preview:
Thriftyone,
MOVE. If you don't like the spending of tax money, vote out your representative. Or if you are too lazy for that, MOVE. I'd rather it go to the Wild Things than to the access cards of Washington County.
Do you even know how the tourism tax is set up? I highly doubt it, so don’t assume. It makes you look like an idiot.
Look at that area where the ball park is located; before the ball park was built, that area was an eye sore. The ball park was the first to go in. Money generated from the visiting teams’ hotel stays, restaurants in and around Washington run special for the fans coming into town, and tourism dollars that are brought into the county on coming to a game, are all thanks to the Wild Things. I have a feeling that the taxes that were generated from the land sales, sales taxes, and property taxes of the parcels around the ball park have greatly eclipsed the money that is to be given to the team for turf. I haven’t even started on the wage taxes that are brought in from the employees of the business’s located next to the park.
Now we have two hotels that are always full of guests, a thriving medical campus, two restaurants, and a minor league baseball team in our town. I think that the contribution to the economy that the team has given to this area warrants the gift.
AND by the way, it’s a matching GRANT, not GRAND you hillbilly.
-Joe
YOu people need to get your heads out of the sand, and start atleast acting like you have a brain. Grow up.
-Joe
The Hotel Tax legislation was approved for the expressed purpose of Tourism Development and Promotion. The law permissioned commissioners to enact the tax, up to 3%, in their counties.
The Washington County Commissioners enacted the tax and challenged the Tourism Promotion Agency to fulfill its mission with a dependable funding stream now in place.
The proceeds of this tax are used for various development & promotion projects, all related to tourism. Some are one-time projects. Others are on-going.
The tax pays the annual costs of the "new" exhibition halls at the County Fairgrounds. It pays for other "brick & mortar" projects through the annual "grant" request program. It pays for an outreach marketing campaign that has contributed to an increase in the "heads in beds", further increasing the amount of funds available. The tax also supports area marketing/promotion of local events and activities.
The County's number one attaction in terms of attendance, prior to the opening of the Meadows Casino, was the activities at CONSOL Energy Park--Wild Things, High School games, concerts, other shows, activities and events.
The WCTPA's participation in this project will makes the currently-scheduled events more dependable in terms of being less weather-dependent. It will also enable BSI/Washington Family Entertainment to schedule additional events during, prior to and after the baseball season.
While I recognize that taxes are taxes, likely less than 5% of Washington County residents pay into this tax pool. Not many County residents spend a lot of nights in County hotels. At the same time, the County budget's contribution to fund the Tourism Agency ($35,000) ended with the implementation of this room tax, at least shifting the burden of funding from local property owners to hotel guests.
Bob Gregg, member
Board of Directors
Washington County Tourism Promotion Agency, Inc.
Bob Gregg said, in part;
“While I recognize that taxes are taxes”
Well Bob, that IS indeed the point and you did not need to go into the long-winded defense of this misuse of taxpayer funds. Of course, you have a vested interest in this ‘backdoor fraud’. Not one dime of taxpayer dollars should ever be given to a privately owned business – they should sink or swim on their own. All of this is legal of course, but morally it is an entirely different matter. People that are residents of Washington should not be charged this 5% tax in this first.
IMHO, the only thing truly historic about Washington Country is the monumental mess the so-called “leaders”
of this County have managed to get it into. Who wants to come to “Historic Washington Country” just to see the trash strewn roadways, dilapidated buildings, drunks walking the streets, and general run down conditions.
The only thing that is compared to these leaders when it comes to being incompetent is their bosom buddies, The Washington Wild Things! The Wild Things have had more things given to them than ANY group of business people
in the history of this county. Most of this is in the form of private individual donations of services i.e.; host families,
free meals for the team, etc. Even with all the community help these people can’t seem to get it together. However, they also seem to have no shame, as they don’t hesitate to take any handout whether it is from the private or public sector. So, the next thing we can expect is for the taxpayers to build them a new ballpark. I can see it now, “Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to Larry Maggi Field!” The Wild Things are just too big to fail. No matter how much it cost the taxpayers – no matter that seniors lose their homes due to the accumulation of all the various taxes the politicians have dreamed up in ‘historic’ fashion in their empty heads in the middle of the night.
Bob
BTW: Why was there was a repost of Joes pro taxpayer money give away message without reposting the other related replys?
we taxpayers are a generous lot, not that we have a choice in the matter.
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