Winchester inks deal for 2011 World Series but who is footing the bill for the event training?

Exciting times for local youth baseball coming in August of 2011 but who will be footing the bill for City staff members traveling to Van Buren, Ark for the event training?  Who will be traveling and what will be the cost for travel, lodging and meal money?  What type of training is involved?


Veach said city staff members will be sent to Van Buren, Ark., a frequent World Series host, for event training this year. They will also travel to Purcellville in the summer to observe tournament operations as Loudoun County hosts the Babe Ruth 14-Year-Old World Series.


With Purcellville hosting the 14yr old World Series this summer, would it not be sufficient training for Winchester staff members to get quality training from Loudoun Babe Ruth since they will be hosting their 4th World Series since 1998?

Since Purcellville has hosted three World Series events to date and the forth coming this summer along with hosting several other previous South East Regional Tournaments, one could assume they know the in's and out's of running a World Series event, agree?

Valley Health Systems Top Salaries and Top Contractors

To build upon The Winchester Star's database of local salaries with the most recent information available to The Pub:

Valley Health System's Top Salaries and Top Contractors

WMC Campus Tax Exempt status on the agenda for Council Work Session

Tuesday, March 23  5:30 p.m. in Rouss City Hall, Council Chambers


One of the items on the agenda:
O-2010-12: Ordinance 

AN ORDINANCE TO DENY THE APPLICATION OF WINCHESTER MEDICAL CENTER FOR TAX EXEMPT STATUS BY CHARITABLE ORGANIZATION PURSUANT TO 27-33 OF THE WINCHESTER CITY CODE  (pages 16-22)

[This is a blanket exemption request for the entire campus] 

Financial Impact:
At the City of Winchester's current tax rate of $0.77 and the property having an assessment of $272,214,900.00, this equates to $2,096,054.73 in tax dollars.

Salary history on the MILLION dollar CEO for a local area non-profit

Just wanted to shared the total compensation package figures of this MILLION dollar CEO for a local area non-profit institution.

2003 - $455,020

2004 - $620,432

2005 - $824,113

2006 - $730,318

2007 - $927,147

2008 - $1,036,579

Source of information for years 2003-2005 was obtained from "wherethemoneygoes.com" and 2006-2008 were the IRS990's.  Years 2006 and 2007 were just Base Compensation and Contributions to employee benefit plan and deferred comp plans.  For year 2008, the compensation package went into a more detailed breakdown.

Local Area area non-profit had a MILLION dollar CEO in 2008

Despite difficult economic times, pay raises were plentiful for some individuals for one local area non-profit in 2008 despite the fact they showed less money made on paper vs. 2007.

This million dollar CEO got a pay raise that was worth a total compensation package of $109,426.

631,330 - Base Compensation

 60,000 - Bonus & Incentive Compensation

 15,007 - Other Compensation

301,193 - Deferred Compensation

 29,049 - Nontaxable Benefits

==========

$1,036,579

Stay tuned to become more informed!

The former Jimmy's Steakhouse Restaurant ... is there another side to that story???

Look for a local paper to have a more in-depth story about the former tenant being removed prematurely from a 20-yr option lease on the restaurant.

It was stated that two local construction companies already have contracts in place to do some work at the former local restaurant.

This source stated that after you learn more about this other side of the story, it just might make you think twice about supporting anything related to Shenandoah University.

Keep an eye on one of the local papers!

Wonder why VHS didn't adhere to IHRSA's recommendation back in 2005?

Please review the attached letter that IHRSA (International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association) sent to Valley Health officials back on January 23, 2005.

IHRSA_Letter_BOD_VHS_2005_Page1.pdf

IHRSA_Letter_BOD_VHS_2005_Page2.pdf 

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From:
Date: Fri, Mar 5, 2010 at 12:05 PM
Subject: IHRSA letter to VHS BOD's back in 2005 (Wellness & Fitness Facility)
To:
Cc:


Dear Jim and Milt,

I just got off the with Tim Sullivan from IHRSA and he informed me that the VHS BOD's never responded to the attached letter from 2005.

Please review IHRSA's recommendation on how VHS should operate the Wellness & Fitness Facility.


Respectfully shared,
Jeff Milburn

 


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Tim Sullivan
Date: Fri, Mar 5, 2010 at 11:34 AM
Subject: Re: IHRSA Letter to Valley Health BOD 2005
To:

Jeff,

Nice speaking with you. See if you have better luck opening the attached.

Tim

Tim Sullivan, Legislative Analyst
IHRSA, International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association
Seaport Center • 70 Fargo Street • Boston, MA 02210 USA

2011 10yr old Cal Ripken World Series is coming to Winchester

Congrats to WPRD officials, Winchester Baseball as well as City Council approving the $75,000 needed for Winchester Baseball to host the World Series BUT lets get within the ballpark on the number of visitors, the number of hotels that will be needed and how much money will be spent within our local community.

How many people can Winchester/Frederick County expect to see coming into the local community and how profitable can it be?

"Through all our banners, tickets, concessions, after everything was done, the committee made around $75,000," said Rick Akers, parks and recreation director for Lamar, Colo., which hosted the event last summer. "We still made money, and we gave back to the kids."

Lamar raised about $70,000 from sponsorships and about $20,000 in admission tickets. A souvenir booth made about $10,500.

"We had good participation, good attendance, but you didn't see a lot of grandmas and grandpas like we thought we would," Akers said. Rights to the tournament come with a $40,000 price tag, and Lamar paid for it with a tourism tax.

Lamar, CO drew 24 coaches and 114 players. Most stayed 10 days and played on a new field built with grant money. About 250 adults and 200 children stayed in 140 hotel rooms, according to provided data.

The information and quotes above is more in the ballpark than this quote back in February 19, 2009 in a story featured within the Winchester Star:

Citing an economic analysis that Babe Ruth Baseball does for host cities, Brad Veach said that areas normally generate between $1.2 and $2 million over the 10-day tournament. That money comes from hotels (an estimate of 700 rooms needed) meals at local restaurants, gas and other expenditures.

What will the replacement cost be for the Handley Bowl's A-Turf?

Finally had a some dialog with the principal at Fort Hill School, Mr. Lewis and had several questions for him about the Field Turf facility at Greenway Avenue Stadium.

What was the cost to replace the Turf?
The initial turf in 1998 cost $620,000 and the replacement turf in 2008 was $690,000
 
To clarify, what type of Turf was install and what was used to replace it?
Field Turf and the grass on the turf was shot - broken down from UV rays and wear

How was it funded?
Replaced turf was funded from money on ticket sales from games over the last 10 years games ($1 on each ticket goes into a stadium account at the Board of Education Office) and BOE money

This is phase 1 of the renovation project for the Greenway Avenue Stadium. 

Callas (Hagerstown firm) awarded $3.2 stadium contract

So with that in mind, just wonder what the replacement bill for the Handley Bowl A-Turf will be coming in the 2019 time-frame?

Pictured below is of Greenway Avenue Stadium in Cumberland, MD on the campus of Fort Hill High School.

For further information about the Greenway Avenue Stadium and the history, please click on the following link:

http://www.forthillfootball.net/stadium.htm

Some history on Winchester Baseball

The following article clearly makes mention that Winchester Baseball was operating under Little League Baseball with hopes to make it to Williamsport, PA.

Article from Winchester Star, July 14, 1953

From the information that was gathered, Winchester could not beat Front Royal to advance.

Reason being, Winchester had (8) regular season teams and Front Royal had (6) teams to draw from BUT under the Little League rules, I assume the magic number was 8 for the regular season teams which meant that Winchester had to field (2) All-Star teams (American and National).

This is being shared because there have been questions about Winchester Baseball not being under the Little League umbrella but this document supports that WB did operate under Little League Baseball during the 50's.

The History “facts” on Winchester Baseball

February 18, 2010

I am writing in reference to the nonfactual letter that Mr. Steve Cunningham wrote on February 10, 2010 “Just plain nonsense” that was in the Winchester Star.

To educate Steve and everyone else on the history of Winchester Baseball, I got in contact with two individuals who grew up when it first started.

The facts that were given to me were as follows:

Winchester has not been involved with Cal Ripken or Babe Ruth Baseball for close to 50 years.

Winchester started baseball in 1952, it organized under Little League Baseball.  Winchester Little League Baseball stayed under that program until the mid-late 50’s.

After Winchester dropped out of LLB, the program became independent as it was called “Little Baseball League”

It joined Bambino under the Babe Ruth organization in the early 1980s

In 1953 Winchester started a 13-14 league that was ran by the Jr. Chamber of Commerce.  It was under the Pony League Program.

The JC’s built the Henkel Harris Field for this program.  It stayed under Pony League for a number of years.  After adding 15 year olds they had to drop out and play independent for a few years.

They were playing 13-15 year program on a Pony League diamond.  In the late 60’s or early 70’s they moved the pitchers mound back but still played on Pony League dimensions.

Winchester did not become a member of Babe Ruth League until the early-mid 80’s.  

Mr. Cunningham is further quoted via online Winchester Star website on the article "City agency is working on a new pitch for series" ... in the comment section:

To bring a Babe Ruth/Cal Ripken World Series to Winchester Yost Field needs upgrades that Brad Veach is advocating.  And City Council should do all that they can to bring this wonderful family event to Winchester.

I agree that Bridgeforth Field needs some work....in light of recent improvements nothing has been done since the field was built, however, shouldn't Shenandoah University and Handley High School be responsible for some costs since they use the field as much as the Royals?

In recent years neighboring localities have put their money where their mouth is.  Warren County schools funded the renovations to Bing Crosby stadium to make it a wonderful facility.

Loudoun County was the recipient of a large donation to [upgrade] Fireman's Field in Purcellville and as a result now almost annually hosts a Babe Ruth World Series for ages between 16-18.

Let everyone who shares in using the fields at Jim Barnett Park share in the expense of the upkeep and stop relying on Winchester Baseball to foot the bill for all field maintenance.

Steve, what field maintenance are you talking about?  Please inform all on what WB does on a daily/weekly basis for maintenance on the baseball diamonds?

Handley HS has joint agreement between WPRD and Winchester Public Schools as they both share each others facilities.  Handley HS is doing the remolding work at Bridgeforth press-box, dugouts and backstop.

What are these other teams/leagues that you talk about that use the same facilities that WB utilizes?

Mr. Cunningham, the Rose Family in 1998 made the donation.  Loudoun Babe Ruth has hosted just (4) World Series events to date. (18, 16, 13 and 15 year olds)

I did make an offer a suggestion to help foot the bill on the World Series, Frederick County tax-dollars should be involved since most of the players come from there.  If anyone reads the papers, the budgets are getting hammered with the latest snow storms.  Hence, the reason even more so why Frederick County needs to get involved.  If it's going to be on the shoulders of just the City of Winchester, the perception in the local papers does not look promising after the great expense for snow removal.

How can the structure of the league be “causing ill effects on Handley Baseball”?  The numbers that I provided about Handley baseball speaks volumes.

To close, if you had researched, you would have discovered that I have been involved with the Winchester Baseball league from 1989-1994.

Finally I have never stated that WB should not host the World Series but in my own opinion, I do not think the City of Winchester should be the sole provider in footing the bill to host this 10yr old World Series, especially during these epic budget constraints!

Mr. Cunningham, in the future please do your research before commenting!

Last question, do the Winchester Baseball umpires volunteer their time like the “Little League” umpires?

Concept Sketch for an Arena Downtown on the "walking mall"

This concept is of a building with a dimension of 180' x 287' with the "U" shape design.

There are (3) types of telescopic seating used in this diagram: portable bleachers (611), platform chairs (1308) and stadium chairs (801) for a total of 2720.  This does not include any loose seating in front of the bleachers or at the top of the second floor which would add a couple of hundred to that count.  So realistically with this design, we could be in the ballpark of 3,000 seats.

This is just one example.

WHY build an Arena on the Downtown Walking mall?

How many people could be drawn downtown on the walking mall area IF an Arena was constructed on the Loudoun Street "walking mall"?

If the Arena is constructed to accommodate in the ballpark of 3500-5000 seats then the following breakdown could be very realistic.

An average of 3,000 individuals x (3) events per week x (4) weeks per month x (12) months = 432,000 on a average per year would be "walking" on the downtown Loudoun Street walking mall.

An average of 2,500 individuals x (3) events per week x (4) weeks per month x (12) months = 360,000 on a average per year would be "walking" on the downtown Loudoun Street walking mall.

Let's use an average per individual spending $10-$20 per visit on the walking mall just alone that would equate to a ballpark figure of $3.6-$8.64 million dollars being spent within our local downtown area and that is NOT even including the hotel stays.

When factoring in a economic multiplier of 1.5, the local economy financial impact could range from $5.4-$12.96 million dollars annually.

OK, some might say (3) events per week is not realistic, fair enough, lets shoot for an average of (2) events per week.

An average of 3,000 individuals x (2) events per week x (4) weeks per month x (12) months = 288,000 on a average per year would be "walking" on the downtown Loudoun Street walking mall.

An average of 2,500 individuals x (2) events per week x (4) weeks per month x (12) months = 240,000 on a average per year would be "walking" on the downtown Loudoun Street walking mall.

$10-$20 per visit per individual spent on the walking mall would equate to a ballpark figure of $2.4-$5.76 million dollars being spent within our local downtown area.  Hotel stays are NOT calculated in this figure.

When factoring in the economic multiplier of 1.5, the local economy financial impact would be a range of $3.6-$8.64 million annually.

What IF these donors only knew of WMC's profitability?

The Winchester Star just featured a story about the WMC Foundation honoring the major donors at the fourth annual Heart Ball Saturday night.

About 350 donors who contributed $1,000 or more attended the black-tie event at the Shenandoah Valley Golf Club. Some of them gave as much as $25,000 in the past year.

In the past year, 1,000 donors have raised $1.2 million. Since its beginning in 2004, the foundation has raised more than $8.6 million and funded nearly $4 million in grants to improve health care.

For more details on the article, visit http://winchesterstar.com/pages/view/donors.html

Nobody can dispute these donors generosity as it's their choice to donate to whomever they desire but what if they knew how profitable the Winchester Medical Center has been since 2001?

Folks, its just amazing of these (in excess of revenue) profit figures that just the Winchester Medical Center (not-for-profit) alone is producing since 2001 according to Quad State Business Journal was $11.8 million.

So ... here you go ...

• 2001 - $11.8 million

      '
      '
      '

• 2005 - $54,346,679 (per IRS990)
• 2006 - $57,422,678 (per IRS990)
• 2007 = $66,617,961 (per IRS990)

Everyone has read where The Pub documented that from 2001-2005, that was a 383% increase, well my goodness, from 2001-2007 that has risen even more so up to 460%.

You tell us what in the world in going on?  These numbers are getting too big for The Pub to even comprehend for this "not-for-profit" organization.  Please keep in mind, this is just Winchester Medical Center alone, there are many other revenue generating services that have not been factored in yet.

To close, nobody can dispute the thoughtfulness of these donors BUT what if they only knew of the profits that the WMC just itself turned from 2001-2007?

No doubt about it, that leaves many local charities wondering if these donors would have given to their respective charities that are very much in need during these very difficult economic times.

It’s only fair that the public be more informed but Valley Health System does NOT do a very good job of be very transparent with their financial information in fear of opening up Pandora’s Box!

Finally, our local media outlets do an outstanding job of telling one side of the VHS’s greatness BUT search this blog for keywords of “Valley Health System” and “Winchester Medical Center” so that you as a concerned citizen are more informed to learn about another side of Valley Health System.