The Ravalli County Park Board is technically bankrupt! The Park Board owes about $270,000 with $200,000 in the bank. With an income of about $3,000/year and expenses of approximately $30,000/year.
How did they get here? In 2008 with the real estate boom well in progress, they decided to purchase a piece of property on Kurtz Lane in the Hamilton area by borrowing about $318,000. They assumed that the rapid growth the county was experiencing at the time would continue forever, funding the purchase with future cash-in-lieu of park payments from new subdivisions. Today with the lack of subdivision activity, these funds have proven to be imaginary, hence the bankrupt state of the Park Board. All they had to do is look at the past history boom and bust in development in the valley to realize that this assumption was faulty.
John Ormiston, a long time Park Board member, was instrumental in the purchase of this property. Now he wants to be county commissioner! Do you really want a county commissioner with this kind of shortsighted spending of public dollars in charge of the county budget? I don’t think so! Vote for Jeff Burrows.
Bill Menager
Hamilton