Administrators and Prescott residents joyous over new tennis complex; some taxpayers weep
The decision by the Yavapai Community College Governing Board to spend
Commentary
more than $1.1 million dollars of taxpayer money for a state-of-the-art tennis complex on the Prescott campus was joyously celebrated December 11 by Prescott dignitaries and the Yavapai Community College administrators. The College paid $840,000 for the tennis courts plus $330,000 for surrounding road repair, drainage, parking lot, lights, etc.) The City of Prescott kicked in $25,000.
For taxpayers not living in the Prescott area, it was a sad day as the College continued its Country-Club-like attitude toward spending scarce County resources on such projects. This project comes as no surprise to Verde Valley residents as it continues a decades-long College mentality of using County taxpayer funds for athletic and cultural projects almost exclusively for the benefit of Prescott area residents.
If you haven’t seen the new tennis complex, it is no ordinary tennis facility. It is described as a “seven-court tennis center [which] could become a prototype for others built across the country; the Best Small Tennis Facility in the Country.”
The decision to spend money on this project shows just how far the College has drifted from a County-wide Community College education institution into one that possesses at times an almost Country Club mentality. It also shows just how easy it is to get Governing Board approval for a Prescott project.
It may astonish readers to know that this project won a nod of approval in 2012, just months after the College, citing huge cuts in state support, cut programs and staff. Research shows that in 2011 it eliminated $1.2 million in scholarship aid badly needed for financially struggling students, abolished 27 faculty positions, and reduced the nursing program by 50%.
Research also reveals that there is little educational benefit to the tennis complex but great benefit to the city of Prescott. The Community College has neither a tennis team nor an extensive tennis program. In fact, it offers two tennis classes with a maximum enrollment of 32 students. Meanwhile, Prescott freely admits the complex will help boost tourism dollars for the City and potentially add hundreds of thousands of dollars annually to its coffers through tournaments and other events. The complex will also help Prescott attract retirees.
The Board approval meant funneling County property tax money into what is primarily a City project. For convenience the money flows beneath the Community College mantle, which is a helpful polite shield that keeps the primary purpose hidden from prying eyes.
To make matters even worse, there’s a confusing, somewhat odd, handling of a fund raising obligation for the project. Back in June 2012, when the project was approved, there was a promise to independently raise $450,000 in outside fundraising to support construction of six tennis courts. That $450,000 figure proved far too elusive and only $150,000 was eventually raised by the Prescott Tennis Association. However, most of the $150,000 was routed to add a 7th center tennis court with bleachers rather than apply these funds to the original six-court plan.
To pull what I view as a convenient shroud over all this, at the October 2014 Governing Board meeting the College relabeled the project as one involving “preventative maintenance” rather than “capital improvement.” With relabeling, the $450,000 independent funding promise made two years earlier magically vanished and the taxpayer wallet opened wider.
Fortunately, there are two new Board members who take office in January. I believe they are determined to put a stop to the Country Club spending on projects like this and will consider the education needs of the entire County. I believe they will not yield to the enormous Prescott influence that has dominated the Community College spending for years. Is that too much to hope for?
Bob Oliphant