County Won’t Waive Fees At Fairgrounds Junior Livestock Show Must Pay Rent This Year; However, It Might Move Elsewhere Next Year

Despite a favorable legal opinion, Spokane County commissioners have no plans to waive fairgrounds rental fees for youth groups, even for the popular Junior Livestock Show.

“Nobody cares more about kids than I do,” said commission Chairman Phil Harris, a former Boy Scout executive. “We have bent over backwards for them. But we have to recoup costs.”

The state constitution prohibits giving away government money or services, including free rentals, Harris said.

So, at the first of the year, Spokane County began charging all groups minimal fees to rent the Interstate Fairgrounds.

This year, the Junior Livestock Show must come up with about $9,000; next year, it will rise to $18,000.

Concerned about the future of the longest-running livestock show west of the Mississippi River, Eastern Washington lawmakers weighed in last month.

State Sen. Bob Morton, R-Orient, wrote commissioners that legislative lawyers had researched the gifting provision and found that fairgrounds fee waivers are not gifts or loans of money.

“In essence, the county has the authority to consider the public benefit involved in hosting a particular event as a mitigating factor in the establishment of rates,” Morton wrote.

The livestock show brings untold economic benefits to Spokane County by drawing families from all over the eastern half of the state, organizers said.

But Harris said county lawyers have a different opinion than Morton’s legal counsel. Free fairgrounds rental is a violation of the law, he said.

Commissioner John Roskelley agreed, saying, “We’re on solid ground.”

Ultimately, the issue could be decided by the state attorney general’s office, Harris said. He also has asked the Junior Livestock Show for a copy of its annual budget to see if rent would have a major effect on its bottom line.

“Someone is trying to make us look like dirty birds, but we’re not,” Harris said, referring to pressure being exerted on commissioners by families connected to 4-H and Future Farmers of America.

Treva Norris, the livestock show’s business manager, said this year’s event will go on as planned thanks to a compromise reached with the county.

Next year, the show will look to move, build its own facilities or find corporate sponsorship, Norris wrote Morton.

“We’re not in this for a big fight or anything,” she said. “We’re just trying to keep our show together.”

, DataTimes