JOAN BARRON Star-Tribune capital bureau | Posted: Thursday, May 8, 2008 12:00 am
CHEYENNE - Laramie County voters Tuesday night rejected a $55 million family recreation center for Cheyenne but adopted three other propositions on the sixth-cent sales tax ballot.
Mayor Jack Spiker, who enthusiastically supported the recreation center, and Jack Quirk, a member of an anti-tax group that opposed it, both said Wednesday the shaky national economy was a factor in the defeat of the proposition.
Gov. Dave Freudenthal said he didn't sense the vote was a defeat of the idea of a recreation center in Cheyenne, just this particular model.
Spiker, who said he was surprised at the rejection, said when discussion began last summer on the next sixth-cent tax ballot, gas prices were high but not as high as they are today - and there were no mass mortgage foreclosures or a national recession and high food costs.
"Here we are several months later, and that's all changed,� Spiker said in an interview. �I do think that had a negative impact on it.�
He said it was an expensive project but was what the people in the community said they wanted at public�meetings.
The vote on the recreation center was 8,851 or 45.59 percent for, and 10,563 or 54.4 percent against.
Spiker said the recreation center started out with a $35 million price tag. Then, during a series of public meetings, people said they wanted a senior wing, and the soccer and lacrosse people�wanted a fieldhouse.
"And the swimming people wanted a competitive pool, and you try to accommodate the entire community,�and by the time you add those projects, you're up to $55 million,� the mayor said.
He noted the�governor and the other four elected state�officials sitting as the State Loan and Investment Board a couple of years ago voted unanimously for a $1 million grant to design the recreation center. It was unusual, because the state board gives priority to infrastructure projects rather than recreation projects.
City officials will look at other options later - but not the 1 percent sales tax as a revenue source, as the voters rejected the proposition, Spiker said.
"I don't think we'll do that for a little bit. We need to lick our wounds and regroup,� he said.
The city, however, has a lot of money invested in the design, and Spiker said he doesn't want it to sit on a shelf.
Other possible sources of money include selling some land and tapping into part of the nearly $27 million a year for two years Cheyenne will receive in a block grant from the state.
Private donations are another source.
Frontier Refinery contributed $7,500 to a political action committee that was promoting the recreation center because it would help the company recruit workers, Spiker noted. The PAC spent $53,000 to promote the recreation center.
The three propositions that voters approved will cost $49 million for projects in Cheyenne, Laramie County, Burns, Albin and Pine Bluffs.
Jack Quirk of Citizens Opposed to Spendthrift Taxation said many people were opposed because they said they couldn't afford to pay the fees to join the rec center in the current climate of high food and gas prices.
He also said city officials got carried away by adding more and more features.
"It grew like Mopsy to the point where it outgrew itself,� Quirk said.
Quirk had questioned the accuracy of the projected operating costs for the 107,000-square-foot facility.
"To me it's just the economy," Quirk said. "I think it's not the right time."
During his regular news conference Wednesday, Freudenthal said he could sense from conversations around Cheyenne that there were significant unanswered questions about the recreation center.
"There were a variety of comments I would hear around town, some favorable, but toward the end more, 'We like the idea, but we're not sure we like this configuration.'"
Some people suggested building two less elaborate facilities instead of one big one.
Freudenthal didn't say how he voted.
"I don't think it should be taken as a rejection of the idea of a recreation facility,� the governor said.
Contact Joan Barron at joan.barron@trib.com or by phone at 307-632-1244.
* Last we knew: Laramie County residents cast votes on a $55 million recreation center for Cheyenne and other sixth-cent sales tax projects Tuesday.
* The latest: Voters rejected the rec center but approved $49 million in projects for the county, Cheyenne, Albin, Burns and Pine Bluffs.
* What's next: Cheyenne officials will look at other revenue sources for the recreation center.]]->