Tax money for Seasons has strings

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Paying back a $200,000 bridge loan from the city of Yakima may be trickier than Pat Strosahl, board president for The Seasons, first thought.

Earlier this week, Strosahl was finishing up the paperwork needed to turn the downtown performance hall over to the nonprofit Seasons Music Festival organization.

The transfer of ownership from Strosahl's family business, United Builders of Washington, to a nonprofit entity is necessary for The Seasons to be eligible for upcoming hotel room tax money, which Strosahl had earmarked to pay back the city's loan.

However, Strosahl says he misunderstood how the money, now estimated at around $333,000, could be spent. It can only be used for projects pre-approved by the Yakima County commissioners.

"We don't want it to pay for work that's already been done," said commissioner Rand Elliott, referring to the $100,000 sprinkler system The Seasons paid for with the city's emergency loan.

Strosahl said he had been operating under the impression the sprinkler system was one of the line items approved. It wasn't.

"I can't speculate as to why there was a misunderstanding," said Elliott.

The next renovation at The Seasons is upgrading the bathrooms, which is a project approved by the commission. Other approved projects include stage, sound and lighting improvements and renovation of the Sunday school room.

The Seasons is one of several organizations that will receive a portion of the
$5 million that will come from a county bond sale, which will be paid back over 11 years from sales tax collected from hotel and motel room rentals. The money is expected to be disbursed, as approved projects are completed, throughout 2010, said commissioner Mike Leita.

Strosahl, however, is now worried that he will not be reimbursed with the forthcoming hotel room tax money if he immediately goes ahead on the bathroom improvements by paying for them with the bridge loan.

"I can't imagine they'd want us to stop in our tracks," said Strosahl. "That'd really mess up our plans."

Leita said he doesn't see a problem proceeding with the bathroom project since the upgrades are beginning after the commission released its list of approved projects.

As for the loan money used for the sprinklers, Strosahl said he's exploring other options for paying it back, such as launching a capital campaign or asking for an extension.

* Kim Nowacki can be reached at 509-577-7680 or knowacki@yakimaherald.com.