Fairground Fund May Be Diverted

Saying the money could be better used elsewhere, Ventura Councilmen Steve Bennett and Gary Tuttle want to raid a city fund containing $9.5 million that was set aside to improve the fairgrounds a decade ago.

They will suggest to their council colleagues Monday that the city take that money--which Mayor Jack Tingstrom wanted to use last year to help pay for a minor league baseball stadium--and establish funds to pay for new library facilities, the completion of the Ventura river bike trail and a 500-space parking structure downtown.

“Ten years is a long enough time to let money sit when there are other pressing needs,” Bennett said Thursday. “Technically, it’s in a fund called the Fairgrounds Master Plan. But there is no project proposed, and there are no restrictions on it. It’s just languished in there, with no one having the courage to move it around.”

The city manager’s office confirms that there are no rules against reallocating the money; the council can re-appropriate the fund by a simple majority vote.

The council originally issued bonds for a host of municipal projects in the mid-1980s, including water, sewer and storm drain improvements. Because the city could not issue public bonds for a private project, some of that money was subsequently shuffled between accounts to raise money for a convention center complex at the fairgrounds, known as Seaside Park. But that project encountered opposition.

So the issue was taken to the voters in the form of two advisory ballot measures. One, which sought support for general improvements at the fairground, won. The other, which opposed the city’s lending money for construction of a convention center, also won.

Perplexed by the contradictory messages sent by voters, the council dropped the convention center proposal. The leftover bond money was placed in a special reserve account, and the council directed that the interest it earns go straight into the city’s general fund. And the principal has remained untouched ever since.

Over the years, council members have considered using the money for everything from building a minor league baseball stadium to building a marine center. Some say the fund should stay as is--earning $500,000 a year in interest for the general fund, money the city has come to count on to balance its annual budget.

Bennett and Tuttle propose the council take the money and allocate $5.5 million to a library construction fund, $2 million to complete a bike trail along the Ventura River and $1.5 million to complete the parking structure near the corner of California and Santa Clara streets.

Reaction to their proposal was mixed Thursday; most council members seemed to support dissolving the fairgrounds fund and spending the money for other projects. They differed, however, on how to spend it.

“I, too, share concerns about continuing a fund that doesn’t seem to have any possibility after 10 years of becoming fruitful for its originally intended purpose,” said Councilman Ray Di Guilio. “It’s just a matter of priorities. Mine are different than those outlined.”

He said that because Ventura does not even have a library agency in place, setting aside library construction money might be premature. Di Guilio said he might consider using some money for the parking structure, and he would like to see some used for road improvements in the east end of town.

Mayor Jack Tingstrom and Councilman Jim Friedman were both open-minded about the idea.

“No one thought it was just fairgrounds money,” Tingstrom said. “We were looking at it for Centerplex. If they have support for it, I think it’s great.”

Friedman said he supports spending the money for libraries and the parking structure, but that he would prefer the city exhaust all possible sources of state and federal grant money before funneling any city funds to the Ventura River bike trail.

Councilman Jim Monahan, the council’s most staunch fairgrounds supporter, could not be reached for comment.

But members of the Ventura Fair Board reached Thursday were upset by the plan. Some have hastily arranged meetings with council members before Monday’s meeting.

“When I was on the council, we made a commitment with the . . . fairground to be partners in developing that property in a way that would be beneficial to citizens,” said former Mayor Dennis Orrock, a two-term council member who has served eight years on the fair board. “Seaside Park agreed to do their part in generating money, and they have. The city agreed to . . . do their part.”

Proponents of the projects that Bennett and Tuttle seek to support greeted the proposal with interest.

“The Downtown Ventura Assn. is in support of transferring part of those funds to help pay for the parking structure,” said Tim O’Neil, the organization’s president.

Downtown merchant Keith Burns, a longtime library supporter, said he, too, would like to see the money spent for existing needs. “It will be there for another 50 years if nothing is done,” he said.

He said he welcomes debate on what to do with the money.

“I wish there was a town hall, where people could get together, sit around with 50 people who support libraries, convention center, the bike trail, then open the debate,” Burns said. “Sitting there getting interest, it’s just so tempting.”