PORT ANGELES — Should Port Angeles residents be asked to pay a new property tax to bring Civic Field up to par?
That’s one question a newly formed group of concerned citizens will attempt to answer at its first meeting at 6 p.m. Monday at the Port Angeles Senior Center, 328 E. Seventh St.
Raising donations also will be considered.
The group, currently dubbed the “Civic Field Citizen Committee,” is composed of between six and eight people who believe it’s time to find a way to fund improvements for the aging facility, said Scott Ramsey, a member of the committee and the Port Angeles Parks, Recreation & Beautification Commission.
Those improvements — including replacing failing lights, constructing a new field drainage system, and replanting the field or replacing it with artificial turf — could cost between $3.2 million and $6.775 million.
The aging athletic field at Fourth and Race streets — which is used for football, baseball and soccer — is worth the investment, said Ramsey and Port Angeles School District Athletic Director Dwayne Johnson, who is also part of the committee.
The problems are several.
Poor field drainage has been an ongoing problem for Civic Field, and causes games to be delayed or relocated each year during the wettest months.
Failing field lights also could lead to the elimination of night games over the next five years, city of Port Angeles staff have said.
“We need to get that facility up to industry standards,” Johnson said, referring to the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association’s guidelines.
Currently, the field doesn’t meet the standards because it doesn’t have artificial turf. That means school teams can’t use it for their playoff games.
Artificial turf for the field and a new drainage system could cost between $2.4 million and $3 million, according to an assessment of the facility paid for by the city.
Ramsey said that expense could be paid back through income from additional tournaments and other fees.
“It can pay for itself,” he said.
City officials, while spending $35.8 million on capital projects this year, has said it doesn’t have enough money to spare on the facility.
While raising donations to cover the costs will be considered at the meeting, Johnson and Ramsey said a property tax levy will likely be the most viable option.
“It would be a challenge,” Ramsey said, to raise that much cash through donations.
He said the group would have the task of promoting a levy to voters and the Port Angeles City Council, which would have to approve its placement on the ballot.
Ramsey said he hopes it can be brought to voters “early next year” if the group chooses that option.
That would come three years after voters in the Port Angeles area approved the formation of a new taxing authority — the William Shore Memorial Pool District — to save the public pool by the same name.
At the time, the city was planning to close the facility because of budget cuts.
The pool property tax levy stands at 14.85 cents per $1,000 assessed valuation.
While that ballot measure was approved by a 2-to-1 margin, Ramsey said he realizes that asking for another levy would be a “hard sell.”
But Civic Field boosters may be assisted by the expiration of a special levy in 2012. The $0.23 per $1,000 valuation levy for Port Angeles’ Fire Station and Seniors Center will raise $391,400 this year.
“Maybe it wouldn’t be a totally new tax,” Ramsey said.
The pool district, under state law, does have the authority to own and operate other facilities related to parks and recreation.
Chairwoman Cherie Kidd said it would be “premature” for her to say if that is something the pool commission will consider.
“The pool district is not considering anything at this time,” said Kidd, who is also a City Council member.
Another special levy, for construction of the Port Angeles Library, will expire in 2015. The rate for that levy is $0.17 per $1,000 valuation.
Ramsey and Johnson said they welcome anyone who wants to join the committee.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
