Big government plans celebration for losing money

Curry County commissioners are planning a big celebration. They’ll be using taxpayer dollars of course. The occasion is a reminder of big-government’s eagerness to waste our money entertaining us.

Commissioners have decided to spend $50,000 celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Curry County Events Center.

This would be the events center that loses money every year to entertain us all. Or at least entertain those of us willing to attend the events it hosts. Sometimes we have to pay extra to get in the door.

This would be the events center that initially cost about $7 million to build before it opened in 2009. About 40 percent of the registered voters participated in the election to build the facility. About 59 percent of those voters — 4,400 people in a community of almost 40,000 — gave the go-ahead.

One of the 3,050 voters who said no thanks was Jake Egerton. “I think the maintenance costs will eat us up,” he said at the time. “... I’m afraid we’re not going to have the finances to support it. They always paint a rosy picture, but they never give you any of the downside.”

Egerton was right, of course. The events center — just like the city of Clovis’ civic center — loses money every year in its attempt to entertain us, whether we want to be entertained or not.

Last fiscal year, the Curry County Events Center lost $460,000.

At least commissioners recognize the events center is a money pit.

Last week they talked about raising facility-use fees for the first time since it opened.

County Manager Lance Pyle told commissioners a price increase could help with the anticipated cost of “additional capital improvements that need to be done” on the aging facility.

But the proposal was tabled because of concerns that local residents won’t be able to afford to host events there.

“We’re probably never going to make money on (the Events Center),” Commissioner Robert Thornton said. “But the idea is that we have something to do.”

And so on Oct. 5, we’ll have something to do: Celebrate spending $50,000 on our money pit.

So much fun.

— David Stevens,

Publisher