Mothballing Roberts Stadium Is Still Under Budget

http://prattvillerevolution.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/a-look-at-the-budget.jpg

For those who follow this blog daily, you may recall the post I made back on January 25th about the estimate for mothballing Roberts Stadium being significantly overstated...

http://saverobertsstadium.blogspot.com/2012/01/as-roberts-stadium-comes-under-budget.html

Last Thursday, we were given an update on the mothball expenses...

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2012/apr/19/roberts-hed-herpppp/

First of all, there are a few figures that are now contradicting themselves in the two articles.

The C&P article back in January said the following...

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2012/jan/22/no-headline---ev_robertsstadium/?partner=popular

"Maintaining Roberts, which was mothballed on Sept. 18, has already rung up a tab of $73,332, as of Jan. 11, according to data provided by City Controller Russ Lloyd Jr."

While the C&P article this past Thursday had a different figure for the period of Sept 18th through January...

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2012/apr/19/roberts-hed-herpppp/

"As of April 9, the city spent $130,817 maintaining the facility since it closed in September with the opening of the Ford Center Downtown. Of that amount, $74,576 was spent from Sept. 18 through the end of last year, and $56,241 more was spent from Jan. 1 to April 9."

So how did we go from Sept 18th through January 11th costing $73,332 in January to Sept 18th through December 31st  now costing $74,576 in this week's article?

Nonetheless, I will take the C&P at their word that the new figure is the correct one because no matter which figure is correct, both are well under the original estimate to mothball Roberts Stadium for a year.

Using the new figures, we can now calculate how much each day the city is spending on Roberts Stadium sitting idle...

Sept 18th through Dec 31st is 104 days

$74,576 divided by 104 days = $717.08 This is how much it cost last year to mothball Roberts each day

Jan 1st through April 9th is 100 days

$56,241 divided by 100 days = $562.41 This is how much it cost this year to mothball Roberts each day

So, we now know that the costs to mothball Roberts Stadium is dropping $154.67 a day.

As of right now, if we combine the two periods we get the following equation...

$130,817 divided by 204 days = $641.26 This is how much each day since Roberts has closed that the city has spent on the facility.

Now, let's figure out how much money mothballing Roberts Stadium is expected to cost for the entire year...

$641.26 times 365 days = $234,059.83 This is the current projection for how much Roberts Stadium will cost to mothball for an entire year.

Now that we have our current figure, let's address what we do know and don't know as of today...

What we don't know

1. We don't know how accurate this figure is. Did Dave Rector spread out his labor costs for his department equally or did he stack them all on Roberts Stadium? Why are we still paying over $17,000 in payroll for a facility that is closed?

2. We don't know when the city will make a decision. Therefore, the city may spend less or more than the $234,059.83 depending on when they make a decision.

3. We don't know what upgrades the city plans to make to Roberts Stadium while it's being mothballed. This will certainly play a role in Roberts' annual mothball estimate.

What we do know

1. The estimate to mothball Roberts Stadium is currently $65,940.17 under the estimate Rector said was "conservative" back in July...

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2011/jul/30/cost-of-roberts/?partner=RSS

"And until the next city administration decides what to do with Roberts Stadium, about $300,000 a year will be spent to keep it on life support.

And that, Rector said, is a conservative estimate.

"Let just say I was optimistic when you hear the number of $300,000," Rector said. "Any building needs constant upkeep. When it comes to Roberts, I think we're up for some serious challenges."

2. The current estimate to mothball Roberts is $265,940.17 under the estimate David Dunn gave us back in September of 2010...

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2010/sep/05/visitors-bureau-addresses-ballpark-plan/

"Roberts Stadium will be vacant by the end of 2011. If The Park plan is not approved, it will cost property taxpayers an estimated $500,000 a year to maintain that vacant property, or more than $1 million to tear it down.

In an August 22, 2010, column in this newspaper, Courier & Press Editor Mizell Stewart III wrote of the city of Corpus Christi, Texas, spending $800,000 in tax dollars to tear down its old stadium after it sat vacant for more than six years and fell into disrepair. The Park plan offers an opportunity to avoid that scenario here.''

3. According to the C&P, the $56,241 the city spent on Roberts this year is below the $94,000 the city set aside for the facility.

4. According to the C&P, the electric bill accounted for 42% of this year's operational costs. This electric bill is mostly the byproduct of the water pumps. In a mid-sized Roberts, THESE PUMPS WILL BE GONE!

5. In a mid-sized arena, the tenants will be responsible for the majority of their expenses on the days they are using the facility which will eliminate the vast majority of the expenses Roberts will incur as a mid-sized arena each year.

Once more, we are seeing that Roberts Stadium is NOT as bad as our city leaders have tried to project it to be. No, mothballing Roberts Stadium is not the long term goal of either side of this argument. However, it does prove that Roberts Stadium is perfectly capable of taking care of itself just like it has these past 55 1/2 years.

The figures are in and they are screaming SAVE ROBERTS STADIUM!

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