Town Toyota Center Board of Directors Approves $10,000 in Local Sponsorships
But $5000 to Rock Island for fireworks and $2,500 to Cashmere for a ping pong ball drop has some community members concerned about misuse of funds
The Greater Wenatchee Regional Public Facilities District (PFD) Board on Thursday, April 25 approved two sponsorships totaling $10,000 that will go to fund community events in Rock Island and Cashmere this summer.
It’s a move that has some questioning the wisdom of a governing body whose first responsibility, as they see it, is to pay off the $41.77 million bond it took to build the Town Toyota Center. The PFD board was formed in 2007 to oversee the TTC, and the facility’s funding comes from a 0.2% sales tax in Chelan and Douglas Counties.
The $10,000 in sponsorships will go to benefit the cities of Rock Island and Cashmere. Five thousand will go to fund fireworks for Rock Island’s “Rockfest” on June 29 and the other $5000 will be split to fund two events in Cashmere. One half goes to fund a ping pong ball drop at Cashmere’s Pioneer Days Festival and the other $2,500 goes to a Pioneer Village Festival at the Cashmere Museum & Pioneer Village.
Dorothy Ferguson of Wenatchee said the PFD board members are using the TTC’s budget as a “slush fund” for their communities and called out what she sees as a lack of transparency from the elected officials who serve on it.
“The PFD Board meetings are one of the few public entities that do not stream their meetings online. Community stakeholders cannot stay informed and participate,” she wrote. “This lack of transparency results in the PFD spending their sales tax revenue to support board members special interests, unrelated to the Town Toyota Center's mission.”
The board is made up of seven members. Each member is supposed to represent the various communities that pay the sales tax that funds the TTC. The members who currently serve on the board, the offices they’re elected to, and the communities they represent are:
Jerrilea Crawford – Board President, East Wenatchee Mayor, representing East Wenatchee
Randy Agnew – Board Vice President, Rock Island Mayor, representing Rock Island, Entiat and Waterville
Jim Fletcher – Board Secretary/Treasurer, Cashmere Mayor, representing Chelan County
Tim Hollingsworth – Board Member, Chelan City Councilor, representing City of Chelan
JC Baldwin – Board Member, Chelan/Douglas Regional Port District Commissioner, representing the City of Cashmere
Marc Straub – Board Member, Douglas County Commissioner, representing Douglas County
Mike Poirier – PFD Board Member, Wenatchee Mayor, representing City of Wenatchee
Crawford and Poirier were not able to attend the meeting and therefore did not vote. The five other members did attend and mayors Agnew and Fletcher each abstained from the vote that benefitted his community.
But at first, there was some debate among the board about the propriety of the issue. JC Baldwin said she considered recusing herself from the vote since she is the representative for the City of Cashmere. But Mayor Fletcher reminded her the money wasn’t going to the city, but rather to the Cashmere Chamber of Commerce and the Cashmere Museum. Fletcher, being the mayor of Cashmere, recused himself and it passed with Agnew, Baldwin, Straub and Hollingsworth voting in favor.
“It was awkward, but it was right,” Baldwin said. “If I didn’t think it was right I wouldn’t vote for it.”
She said the board has voted to help fund the City of Chelan’s Fourth of July fireworks show in the past, and the rationale behind that was to provide value to taxpayers who live in communities far away from the TTC. These types of requests don’t come up often though, and there should probably be clear guidelines when it comes to making these types of decisions, she said.
“To be honest, we should have an official policy to make it more transparent,” Baldwin said.
Board president and East Wenatchee Mayor Crawford agreed.
“I wasn’t at the PFD board meeting today because I attended the chief for a day event. I understand there was a discussion and a vote to support funds for the Rock Island 4th of July festival and a Cashmere event for promotion of the TTC,” she wrote. “Funds for the purpose of promotion are allowed. However I would like to see the PFD board have a more defined policy on that type of spending in the future.”
Yet the ability to spend taxpayer dollars on events outside the TTC is not expressly granted in the interlocal agreement that governs the board and the facility.
Under Section 1, titled “Purpose,” the agreement states the purpose of the agreement, and therefore the PFD, is to “facilitate the commencement of construction and operation of a new Regional Center located in Wenatchee.”
The RCW referenced is a Washington State law written to regulate PFDs and under the section titled “Authorized charges, fees, and taxes—Gifts” state legislators wrote:
“The board may accept and expend or use gifts, grants, and donations for the purpose of a regional center. The revenue from the charges, fees, and taxes imposed under this section shall be used only for the purposes authorized by this chapter.”
Further direction for what the PFD is supposed to do with tax revenue is provided in the first amendment to the interlocal agreement, which all participating jurisdictions agreed to. On the first page of that amendment, it states that the proceeds of sales tax revenue shall go to “retire the current indebtedness of the PFD.”
Even more direction on the matter in a document with the lengthy title “Greater Wenatchee Regional Events Center Public Facilities District Sales and Use Tax” which can be found online here.
“If the new district sales and use tax is approved by voters of the district, the proceeds of the sales and use tax imposed pursuant to this section shall be used to retire the notes and for other purposes contemplated by the first amendment to interlocal agreement and RCW 82.14.048,” it states.
There is no direction on the issue of sponsoring events, gifting money or funding special projects.
And the $10,000 in sponsorships is just the tip of the iceberg, according to Ferguson.
“Last year The PFD Town Toyota Center Board gave $100,000 to pay for the Feasibility Study for the proposed Aquatic/Sports Complex in Douglas County. The PFD paid 1/3 of the total cost of the Feasibility Study,” she wrote. “This was sales tax money given to the PFD to run the Town Toyota Center. The PFD should not give away its sales tax revenues. It is not a community economic development organization. The Town Toyota Center cannot survive without sales tax money, and they are giving it away!”
She called the board’s decision last week a “misuse of sales tax revenues” and said she hopes the State Auditor will complete an accountability audit soon to ensure the financial viability of the TTC.
You can read more about the feasibility study Ferguson mentioned and see a breakdown of the cost for that in this article.
I will keep tabs on this story and write an update if the PFD board decides to make a policy regarding sponsorships, funding special projects, etc.
I'm certainly not happy to learn $100,000 was spent on some of the vost for a Feasibility Study for the proposed Aquatic/Sports Complex in Douglas County.
Thank you Dorothy Ferguson for sharing your concerns. My brother and I were wondering why the PFD board would be giving tax payers money to another potential taxing facility. These tax funded facilities feed off each other and the board members should be more accountable for how our tax dollars are spent!