by Dennis Dalman
The Sartell City Council at its July 22 meeting approved to provide $130,000 to the Pinecone Central Park Association/Sartell Baseball Association for field developments at Pinecone Central Park, as well as a $30,000 city contribution to the developments.
Jason Mathiasen of the PCPA presented the proposal to the council, and its members voted 5-0 to accept it.
The $130,000 is expected to be repaid to the city in installments as private pledges and other contributions as they come in to the PCPA and the SBA. In October of 2017 the city council and those two entities agreed on a city-private partnership to make major improvements and expansions at ball fields at Pinecone Central Park and St. Cloud Orthopedics Field (formerly Champion Field). Those projects totaled about $1.2 million, which came mainly from pledges from many businesses and other contributions, including some city contributions. The city fronted much of the cost with the understanding it would be paid back with pledges. The city has received all of the promised 2019 pledges, and future pledge payments to the city will continue through 2037.
Later, the PCPA applied for grant funding to complete intermediate fields at Pinecone Central Park, but the grant was not received, Mathiasen told the council, causing the PCPA and the SBA to seek more private donations and pledges.
The city’s new agreement would extend the payback of funds to the city to 2041 instead of 2037.
At the July 22 City Council meeting, Heidi Ostlie, financial director, said the money to front the project could come from half-cent sales-tax revenue projections included in an already approved bond fund. Of the sales-tax fund, there would still be $350,000 available for other projects in the city, and the repayments from pledges would be used in the coming years for other recreation priorities in Sartell, Ostlie noted.