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Fair board proposes rate increases Arena and barn rentals would jump By ALBERTO ENRIQUEZ Rates will jump sharply next month at the largely self-supported Jackson County Fairgrounds. "We hadn't done an adjustment in four or five years, and the Fair Board asked us to take a look at it," fairgrounds manager Chris Borovansky said Thursday. Though he and the Fair Board remain open to suggestions from the public on raising revenues, Borovansky said they studied many such suggestions before concluding that rate increases ranging from 33 percent to 400 percent were in order. "Even when people donate very nice improvements, we still have to do the maintenance," Borovansky said. "We're just treading water at this facility, and the alternative is to just let things get run down." To keep things spiffy, the rent at Compton Arena would go from $300 a day to $500 a day. Padgham Pavilion would jump from $300 to $400. The Barker and Krouse barns, formerly $100 each per day, would double to $200 a day. The newly covered Isola arena, formerly $100 a day, would rent for $400. None of these Fair Board-recommended rates have been approved yet. They still must be reviewed by County Administrator Burke Raymond and be voted upon by the Jackson County Board of Commissioners, perhaps as early as next month. Jackson County Commissioner Jack Walker said Thursday that the increases appear likely because the only alternative would be asking taxpayers to support the fairgrounds with a levy -- an unlikely scenario. "People have to realize that taxpayers don't want to support horses," Walker said. However, Walker expressed hope that with current and planned improvements, big-ticket events might someday allow for greater services to youth groups and other nonprofit users. Borovansky said many people, accustomed to levy-supported fairgrounds elsewhere, fail to understand that the Jackson County Fairgrounds is almost entirely self-supporting. Ten years ago, it had six full-time employees, a $700,000 budget, and $250,000 of that amount came from the county general fund. Today, it has four full-time employees, a $1.1 million budget, and only $100,000 comes from a county maintenance levy. The rest is fee-supported, in part by an off-season rental program that has grown by 75 percent. Despite the limits of being self-supporting, the Fairgrounds supports youth programs, including 4-H, with more than $110,000 annually in free and reduced-price facilities. And that figure doesn't include a Junior Livestock Auction that is among the largest west of the Mississippi. "I'd compare our youth programs to any county fair in the state," Borovansky said. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA