Ball-field plan scaled back - Dan Rodgerson

Ball-field plan scaled back
The Greenville News - Greenville, S.C.
Author: Anna B Brutzman
Date: Dec 10, 2004
Start Page: B.1
Section: Metro
Text Word Count: 890

Document Text
Henderson announces changes just days before meeting

By Anna B. Brutzman

STAFF WRITER

brutzman@greenvillenews.com

Three days before a Greenville County Council vote, Chairwoman Phyllis Henderson said she's cutting back her plan to build tournament-level baseball and soccer complexes.

Henderson said she was responding to concerns from other council members and the Convention and Visitors Bureau, which would have had $142,000 of its funding cut.

Now she wants to spend $150,000 a year in tourism dollars to pay down a $2 million bond, half of what she first proposed. That would leave another $150,000 for other groups.

However, the Greenville Hospitality Association has received a legal opinion stating the County Council would be violating state law if it approves the plan at Monday night's meeting.

A letter from Columbia attorney Belton Zeigler states: "My advice would be that County Council delay action on the transaction until alternative means to finance the desired athletic facilities can be identified."

Zeigler couldn't be reached for comment Thursday.

Henderson said she hadn't seen Zeigler's letter. But she believes she followed proper procedure and is proposing an appropriate use of the tourism dollars under state law.

Roughly $300,000 in grant money collected through a 2 percent hotel tax was allotted to 21 arts and cultural groups this year.

Henderson's original plan, proposed in the council's finance committee on Nov. 22, would commit $300,000 annually for the next 20 years to the construction of $3.5 million in ball fields. The idea was that improved facilities would attract tournaments and generate more tourism dollars.

That plan and Henderson's revision Thursday should have been reviewed by the Accommodations Tax Advisory Committee, said its chairman, Chip Davis. The committee is appointed to oversee and make recommendations about the funding before money is allotted, Davis said.

"(Henderson) feels like these are her funds and she can spend them however she wants," Davis said. "They are required to be spent under the guidelines set forth."

Kirk Goeldner, chairman of the board for the Metropolitan Arts Council, said he'd like to see the tourism-spending plan slowed down so everyone can have a good look at it.

"We should compete, but I want it to be done openly and fairly," he said. "A lot of secrecy is going on in this situation."

Zeigler wrote in his letter that recreation facilities aren't a valid use of the tourism grants. Instead of the state accommodations tax, Zeigler wrote, Greenville County should be looking at using a local hospitality tax to fund ball fields.

The cities of Mauldin and Easley used such a tax for their recreation complexes, officials there said.

Davis said the Greenville Hospitality Association hired Zeigler because of the peculiarities in Henderson's procedures. Davis is president of the association.

A majority of council members said Wednesday that they wouldn't support Henderson's plan in its original form because of its impact on, among other groups, the Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Henderson said Thursday she is optimistic the council would support her revised plan. She said she thought a meeting last week between the advisory committee and youth sports officials fulfilled the review requirement.

Henderson said she regretted the manner in which she presented her original proposal. This included not informing the advisory committee or the agencies that had applied for grants in past years.

"I admit if I had an opportunity to do it again, I would do it differently," she said. "But we've got to get beyond the process."

Davis said he wasn't satisfied with the plan's changes.

"A bad plan recrafted is still a bad plan," he said.

Henderson said any interested group in the county would continue to compete for the remaining tax dollars if her plan is approved.

But that money has been severely limited, Goeldner said. Its loss would be a blow to groups already working with limited funds, he said, adding that he is also sympathetic to the need for ball fields.

"To do one at the exclusion of another is not the best plan," he said.

An alternative plan suggested by council member Cort Flint would scale back the youth sports plan to $1 million, with a cost of $75,000 annually in tourism money. That would leave $225,000 to other groups.

Henderson said the grant money isn't an entitlement and is meant to go to projects that bring in the most tourists.

She stood by the importance of youth sports in bringing in tourism dollars and the need to expand facilities to bring in more tournaments.

Dan Rodgerson, executive director of the Greenville County Recreation District, said the cut in grant money would mean that fields would have to be phased in and the quality of amenities possibly cut back.

"Some money is better than no money," he said.

Henderson said if the sports complexes attract more tournaments and tourists, more money would flow in for other groups.

The hotel tax brought in a total of $711,000 in 2004, according to a report from the Accommodations Tax Advisory Committee, which oversees how the money is used. Of that, only $446,000 is available to tourism projects and roughly $146,000 has been committed to three museums downtown at Heritage Green for the next 17 years.

That left $300,000 for other groups to apply for this year.

Staff writer Anna B. Brutzman can be reached at 298-4394.




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