Park district will take a cut of tourney fees

Officials say previous deal with PONY cost district at least $350K



The long-standing quid-pro-quo deal between the Pleasant Valley Recreation and Park District and the Camarillo PONY Baseball Association has been changed.

For the past seven years, the baseball league subleased its rights to the baseball fields at Freedom and Bob Kildee parks to host tournaments put on by outside sports leagues, including the United States Specialty Sports Association. The leagues would pay PONY to use the fields, and in turn PONY baseball would be responsible for maintaining the fields, saving the park district over $100,000 a year.

The subleasing arrangement was technically unauthorized by district policy, and park officials estimate that the district could have received at least $350,000 over the past seven years—the time frame during which PONY was allowing USSSA to use the fields—had it received the money directly from the outside leagues.

The new rules now mean the district receives part of the tournament fees that PONY collects.

“It’s an agreement that becomes transparent for everybody,” Mary Otten, the district’s general manager, told the Acorn.

Camarillo PONY Baseball Association has been a board-approved community service organization with the district since the 1970s. As a community service organization, the association pays a lower rate for rentals and has priority for field and facility permitting.

The district’s most recent community service organization agreement with PONY baseball, approved in September 2021, expires in 2023.

As part of the agreement, PONY baseball provides field maintenance at Kildee and Freedom parks, which was valued at about $120,000 annually over the past six years, reducing the district’s expenses.

Over the years, Camarillo PONY Baseball has worked with various organizations, including Diamond Rock, Diamond Extreme and now USSSA, to provide an advanced baseball league and tournaments at district fields.

Since 2015, USSSA has hosted at least 14 tournaments and two seasons of baseball programs each year. The association has paid Camarillo PONY Baseball a percentage of the revenue from team entries, and PONY has used that revenue to offset maintenance costs for the two parks.

A financial statement from PONY submitted to the park district in 2018 shows the league’s revenue is nearly $490,000. Registration costs ($235,000), snack bar sales ($121,000) and tournament fees ($104,000) account for a bulk of the league’s revenue.

The league’s biggest expenses that year included field upkeep ($102,000), snack bar supplies ($118,000), tournament and uniform costs ($98,000) and rentals and umpire costs ($85,000).

Because the district did not have an agreement that included both sports organizations, PONY was essentially violating the district’s rules for community service organizations by subleasing the fields without district approval, park district board member Jordan Roberts said.

Alex Mathis, president of Camarillo PONY Baseball Association, said in an interview that the district never notified PONY that it was in violation of district policy and that the league would not have been able to provide services for children or maintain the parks if it were not for its relationship with USSSA.

“The park district has definitely been the beneficiary,” Mathis said.

Roberts asked staff why an agreement between all three parties is only now being established.

“We’ve ignored or disregarded the current agreements we have,” he said during the meeting. “Why should I expect that the agreement that’s being put forth tonight is going to be followed in the future? If we set policy and it’s not followed, then what is the point of setting policy?”

Otten responded that the local league “has provided opportunities for the community, and one of the ways they’ve been able to do that—whether we looked the other way or not—was the fact that USSSA provides around $40,000 to Camarillo PONY Baseball to put money back into district fields. . . . Moving forward, we need to be more diligent about following policies.”

Otten said in an interview that previous attempts to draft policy fell apart, and then the pandemic put plans on hold.

“It’s been an ongoing issue we’ve been trying to address for a while,” she said. “But the district got something out of that.”

Still, she said, Pleasant Valley Recreation and Park District should have been earning more than $50,000 each year from USSSA since 2015.

Roberts said in an interview that number could be closer to $150,000 each year—or just over $1 million over the past seven years—given that the district could collect about $11,000 for each tournament USSSA hosts.

He said it’s unfair for staff to claim the district does not have the funds necessary to execute projects the community cares about when it has failed to collect the money it is entitled to.

“If there are certain things that are being ignored, then we can’t go to residents with a straight face and say we don’t have the money,” he said.

The newest agreement, starting this month and lasting until at least June 2025, includes the United States Specialty Sports Association in the district’s agreement with Camarillo PONY Baseball. Staff said it helps improve cost recovery for the fields.

Under the updated agreement, PONY baseball will perform weekly and annual maintenance on Kildee and Freedom parks in exchange for about 10,000 hours of use for the fields with the rental fees being waived.

Mathis said the agreement, which he described as “a long time coming,” would ensure that the 1,100 children who are registered in the league have the opportunity to build character through baseball.

“I think it’s a really great thing for the community,” he said. “We’re thankful to have the partnership we have with both the district and USSSA. We have some of the finest facilities.”

USSSA, a Florida-based nonprofit, will pay community service organization rates for the first 14 tournaments at the two parks and resident organization rates for all remaining tournaments. The association will pay Camarillo PONY Baseball 18% from the proceeds of the tournaments each year.

The district will collect about $50,000 in revenue, depending on the number of tournaments, from USSSA each year, reducing the reliance on property tax.

Camarillo PONY Baseball and USSSA will also pay the district a combined $10,000 annual water contribution.

At the end of the three-year agreement, the district and Pony baseball can agree to two additional one-year extensions.