Columbus City Council authorized Chief Financial Officer James Brigham on Tuesday to “explore” possible funding options for a proposed expansion of Propst Park.
The decision came after some at-times fierce debate between Ward 3 Councilman Rusty Greene and Recreation Director Greg Lewis.
Lewis asked the council to move forward on a proposed $3.3 million bid to build four new youth baseball fields and upgrade the lighting at the Field of Dreams. The city has about $1.4 million on hand from the 2 percent tourism tax and needs about $2 million to complete the work.
Lewis suggested the $400,000 the city receives yearly from the tourism tax, which is collected on prepared food and beverage sales inside the city limits, be used to both finance the park construction and maintain the park going forward. The legislature just renewed the tax for 10 years.
“If we finance that $2 million (for 10 years), about $225,000 of the $400,000 we get every year from the tourism tax would go to the debt,” Lewis said. “The rest would go towards park maintenance.”
Lewis said it was difficult to serve the people who use the park now with the existing fields in the condition they’re in.
“Right now we can only guarantee some of our teams two practices a week,” he said. “Little children may be on the big children’s field, and vice versa. These fields are greatly needed.”
Ward 5 Councilman Stephen Jones said people were tired of waiting.
“I think we’ve been waiting, and we’ve been waiting, and we’ve been waiting,” Jones said. “I think it’s time we do something to support our kids and let them know we support them. We all want something for our kids to do, and it’s time we either put up or shut up.”
Vice Mayor Joseph Mickens asked Brigham if debt associated with Propst Park would count against the city’s debt limit. By law cities may only take on a certain percent of their assessed value in debt.
“I think I would have to reserve that final answer,” Brigham said. “We have two financial consulting groups coming to meet with us. One of those groups has said they think they can structure it so it doesn’t count against our municipal debt, but I don’t want to commit to that until we hear from them.”
The city currently carries about $28.5 million in debt, Brigham indicated during the meeting. That’s down from more than $34.4 million at the end of Fiscal Year 2020.
Greene asked Lewis how many youth baseball teams there were playing at Propst.
“Seven,” Lewis said. “But they are in horrible condition.”
Greene retorted that there were six youth baseball fields already.
“We can fix fields a whole lot better than we can build a $3 million complex,” Greene said. “… Room is not the problem. It’s the maintenance that’s the problem. We have playable fields and the room already, we just don’t take care of it is the problem.”
Lewis said the city historically has not done well with maintenance.
“We are known for being given facilities but no money to maintain it,” Lewis said. “That’s what happens. There’s no money to maintain it. This time we’re going to have money to maintain it.”
Greene moved to table the issue, with a second by Ward 6 Councilwoman Jacqueline DiCicco. Before a vote could be called, Jones made a substitute motion, seconded by Ward 4 Councilman Pierre Beard, to authorize Brigham to explore funding options.
“Once we do these new fields, the more traction they’ll bring in,” Jones said. “If people come in to play on our fields, they’re going to be spending money at McDonald’s, or Hardee’s, or whoever else, which is more 2 percent tax. We’ll make money from them plus our concessions.”
The motion passed 5-1, with Greene voting no.
Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.
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