Bonds Proposed To Fix Fairgrounds Real Estate, Motel Taxes Would Pay $2.5 Million

Tue., Jan. 27, 1998

By Dan Hansen danh@spokesman.com

A tax on land purchases and motel stays may help fund improvements at the Spokane Interstate Fair and Exhibition Center.

Spokane County Commissioner Kate McCaslin proposes issuing $2.5 million worth of bonds to improve the fairgrounds. The county would repay the debt over 20 years, using portions of existing taxes on real estate sales, and hotel and motel rooms.

“They tell me that would give us a first-class facility,” McCaslin said.

The fairgrounds advisory board is still working on a priority list, but there are plenty of possible uses for the money, fairgrounds manager Dolly Hughes said.

Among them: After years of exposure to the weather, the outdoor grandstand suffers from cracked concrete and leaky restrooms, and may need a roof. About 100 horse stalls are decrepit. The outdoor food court is inadequate. So is the sound system throughout the fairgrounds.

“There’s some concern that if we don’t get these improvements done, we’ll lose some of the shows we already have,” said McCaslin, who will present her plan to Commissioner Phil Harris today. Commissioner John Roskelley is out of town on personal business.

“We could have a tremendous facility for $2 million to $3 million,” Hughes said.

The real-estate tax, which is earmarked for improving county facilities, netted the county $1.6 million last year. About $330,000 was collected through the tax on hotel and motel rooms.

With long-term interest rates at about 4.5 percent, the county would need about $100,000 a year from each of those funds to pay back the 20-year bond, county budget Director Marshall Farnell said.

Voters in 1992 rejected an $18 million bond for fairgrounds improvements. Since then, the county has issued $2.9 million in bonds to pay for a new exhibition hall and to pave the parking lot, with money for bond payments coming from fairgrounds revenues.

In addition, commissioners have ear-marked $460,000 from the real-estate tax to pay for various improvements. Among them are $100,000 for sewers and $140,000 for electrical service to the fairgrounds’ RV park, a project already completed.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: POSSIBLE IMPROVEMENTS The outdoor grandstand at the fairgrounds suffers from cracked concrete and leaky restrooms, and may need a roof. About 100 horse stalls are decrepit. The outdoor food court is inadequate, as is the fairgrounds sound system.

This sidebar appeared with the story: POSSIBLE IMPROVEMENTS The outdoor grandstand at the fairgrounds suffers from cracked concrete and leaky restrooms, and may need a roof. About 100 horse stalls are decrepit. The outdoor food court is inadequate, as is the fairgrounds sound system.