Back in 1985, Missoula passed a bond to help build Larchmont Golf Course. It cost $500,000.
That’s parks and trails and open spaces with lots of landscaping. Half a million bucks for that.
Now fast forward to 2014 when Missoula passed a Parks and Trails bond. It cost $42 million.
And it doesn’t end.
The city didn’t fund $350,000 worth of needed money for the new park area.
That’s for maintenance ($221,000), an enterprise component ($36,000), and a new manager ($58,000).
Mayor Engen and the City Council knew the parks needed that $350,000 to operate.
So what did Engen and the Council do?
They gave the parks about half of what they needed, $183,000.
Your city government in action.
On top of this, we know the new parks have very few revenue-generating options. Mostly, they seem to think that high school football and softball games will give them the millions in revenue they need each year to remain a viable, going concern.
If that revenue doesn’t come, no problem – just raise your taxes. You’ll pay for it…at the same time you’re paying off the $42 million in bonds we voted for to build the damn thing.
The parks think they’ll generate between $1.4 million and $3.1 million a year.
They figure this because high school sports brought in $1.1 million to Kalispell in 2011 and $191,000 in Helena that same year. Additionally, soccer tournaments can generate up to $755,000.
So we spent $42 million so we can make $1 million a year.
I guess by 2060 we’ll start to show a profit.
Your city government in action.
That’s parks and trails and open spaces with lots of landscaping. Half a million bucks for that.
Now fast forward to 2014 when Missoula passed a Parks and Trails bond. It cost $42 million.
And it doesn’t end.
The city didn’t fund $350,000 worth of needed money for the new park area.
That’s for maintenance ($221,000), an enterprise component ($36,000), and a new manager ($58,000).
Mayor Engen and the City Council knew the parks needed that $350,000 to operate.
So what did Engen and the Council do?
They gave the parks about half of what they needed, $183,000.
Your city government in action.
On top of this, we know the new parks have very few revenue-generating options. Mostly, they seem to think that high school football and softball games will give them the millions in revenue they need each year to remain a viable, going concern.
If that revenue doesn’t come, no problem – just raise your taxes. You’ll pay for it…at the same time you’re paying off the $42 million in bonds we voted for to build the damn thing.
The parks think they’ll generate between $1.4 million and $3.1 million a year.
They figure this because high school sports brought in $1.1 million to Kalispell in 2011 and $191,000 in Helena that same year. Additionally, soccer tournaments can generate up to $755,000.
So we spent $42 million so we can make $1 million a year.
I guess by 2060 we’ll start to show a profit.
Your city government in action.
