Aug 3, 2016 4 min read

Washington Wild Things ownership Wednesday said the tax abatement agreement it reached with Trinity Area School District several years ago did not fleece the school district, and argued the arrangement is not unusual in communities with professional ballparks.

Trinity opted not to renew a contract to play home baseball games at Consol Energy Park when the agreement expires in March 2017.

Superintendent Michael Lucas said the agreement was too costly for the baseball team to continue to play there.

Over the past five years, the school district returned $280,255 to the Wild Things as a refund for taxes assessed on the ballpark property. That amount does not include other incidental charges.

“It was certainly a great experience for our kids to play baseball at the Wild Things stadium. We simply cannot afford this luxury,” said Lucas. “Hence, we were not renewing the agreement and believed we found an alternate field at a much more reasonable price.”

Stu Williams, majority owner of the independent Frontier League Wild Things, said Trinity granted Ballpark Scholarships Inc., a nonprofit organization, a tax abatement for construction of the 3,200-seat stadium and Trinity’s varsity baseball team started playing on the Wild Things’ field in 2005.

When the Williams family purchased the stadium from tax-exempt BSI in 2011, it entered into a five-year agreement in which the Wild Things would not be required to pay taxes on the property.

“Trinity gave a tax abatement, as any district would do in order to have a facility like this in the community,” said Williams.

He said ownership, which was aware of Trinity’s financial issues, offered to pay a portion of the taxes, but Trinity declined to negotiate.

“We try to be as good a neighbor as we can be to anybody and everybody in the community,” said Williams. “Tax abatement is pretty common. If you have a huge asset in your community, the tax abatement is an incentive.”

David Roussos, Trinity’s director of fiscal services, argued the contract is not a tax abatement.

“These were contracts for the rental of the fields and (The Wild Things) received payments that the district has determined it would be fiscally irresponsible to continue with. It cannot be justified.”

Lucas also said he was surprised and disappointed to learn other school districts were being charged a significantly lower rate to use the field than Trinity.

Williams disagreed, however, and said estimates that the Trinity baseball team paid more than $4,000 per game to play on the Wild Things field over the past half-decade were not accurate.

“There were never any negotiations about a per-game fee. We had the tax abatement, and the school district negotiated the ballgames as a bonus,” said Williams.

Last week, Trinity was close to signing an agreement to play its home games at Ross Memorial Park, home of the Washington & Jefferson College baseball team. However, the college informed the school that it was backing out of the arrangement.

The college field is adjacent to Consol Energy Park.

Earlier this week, sources said that Trinity’s attorneys were informed by W&J that the college was advised by the Wild Things that they would no longer be able to use Consol Park’s parking spaces if they signed the agreement with Trinity.

Williams said that was not the case, and that the Wild Things were considering turning the lower parking lot into two youth tournament fields.

According to Williams, the Wild Things made a “huge investment in tournaments,” which can provide revenue at hotels and restaurants in the county.

“We’re looking at how to utilize that area for the betterment of the community,” said Williams.

In the meantime, the Hillers baseball boosters expressed disappointment that the team possibly will not play any home games.

“The unfortunate part of this situation is the kids get hurt,” said boosters President Robert DeFilipo. “Senior recognition night will be on someone else’s field. This is just not right.”

Some Trinity alumni have said they plan to boycott Wild Things and Washington Rebellion games because of the situation.

Said Williams, “I respect that they can do what they want to do, but they should have the proper information. We’ve always tried to do what’s best for the community.”