Council to vote on $2.3M for parks
Posted on Monday, March 24, 2008
ROGERS - The price tag for Veterans park is about $ 600, 000 higher than expected, and the City Council is set to vote on a $ 2. 3-million appropriation during it's meeting Tuesday.
All of those funds will be pulled from the city's reserve fund, but Treasurer Jerry Hudlow expects the impact to be minimal, even with the higher cost of the project.
"We have adequate reserves to be able to do that," Hudlow said. "This is the type of thing that we have that type of money for."
The city's budget reserves are used to fund unique opportunities and to insure the city against calamities. The Veterans Park project is clearly in the first category, Hudlow said.
The funds will be used to build two baseball and two softball fields at the park, along with a variety of supporting facilities. Hudlow said the fields, which will be of tournament quality, could attract numerous teams from outside the area, bringing an influx of revenue as players and their families stay in the city's hotels, eat at its restaurants and shop in its stores.
"What you're doing is investing in the future," he said.
But Hudlow is hoping to make up some of the costs of the project more quickly. A cautious financier, Hudlow said he always projects lower revenue than the city is likely to receive, meaning he expects the actual income will be greater than what he budgeted and the city will replenish what it is spending.
The Parks and Recreation Commission is also discussing a new policy for awarding naming rights to those fields. If it and the City Council approve a policy that will require a payment to name the facilities, that money will also offset costs of the project.
Even if none of the additional income is realized, Hudlow is not concerned. The city will have more than $ 11 million in reserves following the construction of the parks, he said.
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