Saturday, February 9, 2008

Battlin Bob fires back at County Commissioners!

Here is the letter that Battlin Bob wrote to each of the Washington County Commissioners and the two responses that he received back thus far.
I thought one was a reasonable response and someone that has at least a chance of realizing the importance of the Hagerstown Suns.
The other-Likely will not be getting my vote.

Disclaimer: The following thoughts are those of the guest author and not necessarily those of Thoughts of RS.

I am writing this email after reading the Herald Mail, this is a line from the Herald Mail,The hotel tax was created to pay for large economic development projects, such as stadiums, and also events that draw tourists to the county, Washington County Administrator Gregory B. Murray said. so, you are going to distribute shares to localities? how is this helping "draw tourists"?i have been a baseball fan since i was a child, i am 40 years old now,and hoping i do not see the Hagerstown Suns leave after the 09 season, why do i think they would leave? because they practically had to fight to get a new infield,something that may not have been done since the stadium was built. the tax was created with building a new stadium in mind, giving Boonsboro money to have a carnival is NOT what this tax was meant for, the Hagerstown Suns bring in more revenue a year than any carnival,or fair in the county, yet get treated like 3rd class citizens. not only are the visiting teams staying in hotels(paying said tax)the food they eat, the gas they fill their bus with,the home team also has players who stay in town,pay rent, food,gas many other items they purchase ..now about the fans,most fans are local,and live in Hagerstown,and the surrounding areas.they all pay taxes,and pay for tickets to baseball games. how many of the commissioners actually go to Suns games? and never heard the horrible things other teams say about our stadium? we should be disgraced for having such a out of date facility. i have personally been to at least 7 other ballparks,minor league,and all of them, had WORKING scoreboards,and these towns are smaller,and a lot worse off then Hagerstown could ever be.. i was in Lynchburg Va last year,and asked players the worst stadium they have played in, Municipal ranked 1st or 2nd i will be sending this email to friends who enjoy baseball as much as i do, and the hope is a petition will be gathered to get the Suns a new stadium,or major renavations.. thank you Mike McKain

Mike,

Thanks for the email and comments regarding funding for a new stadium. I have stated on numerous occassions we should put public funding of a new stadium on a ballot and let the voters decide if they want the city and county to fund it. I think we both know how that vote will go. I do attend games and other events at the stadium but am not willing to commit pubic funds in the millions for a new stadium when the private owner is not willing to do the same, especially when we have higher funding needs for things like roads, schools, and public safety. I believe the last stadium campaign to raise funds did not achieve more than 50,000 several years ago. Again i'm all for putting this on a ballot for voters to decide.

Kristin Aleshire

Dear Mike,
I don't disagree with what you have said and have worked with the Suns and their ownership for the last couple years in regards to a possible new or improved Stadium. I believe Will Smith can confirm my support. Unfortunately, several possible stadium projects have not materialized for many reasons outside of my control and the recent downturn in the economy seems to have quieted any plans that I know of by the Sun's ownership to push for the project.
While I agree the money was for a large Tourism project (like a Stadium) we haven't had any of those offers come to the table as of yet. I hope, in the future, we can have an infrastructure project that comes before the board more suitable to the original intent of the funds. During this time, we have used that money for large economic development projects and a few other smaller events, including recent expenditures for Suns Stadium renovations as well as lighting for softball fields in Fairgrounds park to expand some softball tournaments bringing teams in from around the Country (the league sponsoring these events had records of over 200 hotel room nights in a weekend for these tournaments held throughout the summer).
In regards to the revenue sharing, the County Commissioners have been getting a lot of pressure from our municipalities about returning the money collected inside their city limits so that they, not the Commissioners, can decide how best to allocate the funds. They also will have to follow the same usage guidelines as included in the State law. In fact, I can see Hagerstown's share (around $200k) being an asset to use to continue and improve upon upgrades to their Stadium at higher levels, but that will need to be supported by the council. We recently agreed to the sharing in order to help "keep the peace" and hope those funds are also used properly to draw in tourism dollars. This agreement does not preclude us from using the tax to fund a large project, including a Stadium, should that option materialize. Even with the sharing proposed, the County will keep the majority of the money to use as it sees fit ($over $500k/yr stays with County and only @$270k goes to municipalities) . If a new stadium option would materialize in the City, we could pool our funds to secure the project if that was the vote of each board.
While I appreciate your desire for a petition, as a sun's supported, I believe that is premature until the ownership comes up with a workable project they are behind and committed to. Even the original plan for a new stadium that spurred the hotel tax years ago included significant financial support from the team as well as public and State backing. I do not believe the Sun's ownership is ready to to commit to that at this time. I would however, have your supporters be prepared to help lobby the council should the Sun's or City staff come forward with more renovation plans for the current stadium with the new hotel tax funds that the City will receive next year.
Thank you for your comments and support of the Suns,
Jim Kercheval

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