Softball – or hardball?

The comments on yesterday’s post about a Portland Parks & Recreation (PPR) meeting referenced Scott Moore’s article in the Mercury today on subsidies for adult softball, then received some details from reader Mary Huff. I think it’s an issue worthy of full review and discussion.

The attention arises from a report (pdf) just released by Portland’s City Auditor. It begins (emphasis added):

“The Portland Parks and Recreation Bureau (Parks) and the private non-profit Portland Metro Softball Association (PMSA) have partnered for more than 65 years, according to Parks, to provide opportunities for recreational softball play in the Portland area. According to Parks, this relationship has benefited both Parks and PMSA. The Parks Bureau benefits from PMSA’s softball expertise and leadership, field and team scheduling, volunteer contributions, and donations to improve the softball playing fields. PMSA benefits in that they operate within a tournament softball facility (Owens Sports Complex housed within Delta Park), have a high level of maintenance provided by the City of Portland, receive part-time support from a City employee in scheduling fields and teams, and have a considerable amount of influence in some aspects of softball-related decision-making.”

“Background:

In August 2005, our report, Parks Bureau Softball: Operating agreement for the softball program should be revised as it nears selfsufficiency (#323) found that PMSA was successfully operating the softball program at Owens Sports Complex. For four of the prior five fiscal years, PMSA had an average $70,000 surplus of funds while the City provided a public annual subsidy to the softball program of about $100,000. In the report, we suggested limiting the public funding of the softball program at Owens Sports Complex since the program was running a financial surplus. We also found overlapping roles and responsibilities between Parks and PMSA. For instance, the City provides a maintenance crew, maintenance equipment, supplies, and labor to maintain the softball fields at Owens Sports Complex. However, the PMSA complex manager, a non-City employee, provides some oversight to the City maintenance crew and is paid partially by the City. PMSA reimburses the City for some maintenance overtime. We recommended Parks separate responsibilities as much as possible.”

“Another recommendation from our report was for Parks to intentionally set registration fees based upon the City’s long-range goal or purpose for the Owens Sport Complex softball program. PMSA has Parks is planning to develop a competitive request for proposal (RFP) for the future management of Delta Park. According to Parks management, after this new contract with PMSA, the Parks Bureau will implement a competitive RFP process. The RFP process will seek a private entity (non-profit or for-profit) who will take over the management and possibly maintenance of Owens Sports Complex or the entire Delta Park.”

The report finds that four of its five recommendations have been implemented or are in process. The one that isn’t is regarding the fee structure. The City allows PMSA to set the fees to cover their operating costs, rather than taking a voting or controlling role to ensure the Delta Park facility becomes self-sustaining. The Auditor’s report says:

“We urge the Parks Bureau to exercise more control over the fee setting process, making sure that the City’s interests are protected and specifically, that the surcharge amount reflects Parks’ stated goal of self-sufficiency.”

Most notable in progress, perhaps:

“The Parks Bureau agrees that the City should no longer subsidize the Owens Sports Complex softball program. The new contract makes an effort to relieve the City of some of its financial support of the softball program. The Parks Bureau proposed cost savings in four substantive areas:

1. Decrease management subsidy to PMSA;
2. Increase City’s surcharge of registration fees;
3. Require a minimum donation from PMSA for facility improvements; and
4. Reduce the Parks Bureau staff time away from supporting PMSA softball-related duties.

The new contract will effectively lower the City’s reimbursement of the PMSA manager’s salary, saving the City $29,000 of general funds. Depending upon the number of team registrations, the increased surcharge beginning July 2006 will effectively result in up to $22,500 increased revenue for the City during the 2006-07 fiscal year. The current contract also requires PMSA to donate a minimum of $30,000 annually to facility enhancements at Delta Park.“

The Audit also found some legal issues that concern me:

” 1. There appears to be a gap between contracts from 7/1/05 to 6/30/06 without an amendment or contract extension. The contract from 7/1/00 to 6/30/05 contained a clause that allowed for the agreement to be renewed. However, no change order or amendment indicating an extension of the contract was on file with the City.

2. The new contract was retroactively dated to begin on 7/1/06. However, the new contract was signed by City Council on 6/22/07, almost one year after the contract commenced.

3. We did not find documentation of PMSA’s general liability insurance, from 1/01/05 to 7/21/06, during the gap between contracts. There was also an absence of documentation for PMSA’s workers compensation after 9/01/2005.

4. The new contract does not show PMSA’s business license number or an exemption for registering as a non-profit organization.”

Commissioner Saltzman’s response is in a pdf at the end of the link. He says he and PPR will “carefully consider” the recommendations, and “as always, it is a pleasure to work with you and your staff.” But in the main paragraph, he says, “PP&R agrees that we should push our partners to the highest degree of self-sufficiency possible, but we also want our partners to help PP&R in ways that help all parties in a partnership.”

A ghastly sentence, repeating partners/partnerships three times…d’ya think he wanted to emphasize that he isn’t going to put his foot down, on fees paid by adult softball players, sorry, partners? Team registration (pdf) fee this fall is $235. A friend of mine played in this league in previous years, and if I remember correctly said the cost to her to join a team was something like $80, presumably for uniforms and other equipment in addition to her share of the team fee. The per-team fee of $235, divided by nine or ten players is less than $30 each, which seems like a bargain for a season of ten games. General admission for many community centers is $3.25, for comparison. It would be helpful to know what the cost to each softball player would be if there were no City subsidy.