Here's what Benton County is doing to get kids back to the fairgrounds

Benton County is working up a deal to win a critical piece of business back to the Kennewick fairgrounds.

The county commissioners are expected to roll back rental rates for 4-H and youth groups to pre-2014 levels when it meets Tuesday.

The move is a bid to woo back 4-H groups to the county-owned fairgrounds.

The WSU 4-H Youth Development Program has not sanctioned an event at the county-owned fairgrounds for at least two years — a victim of a series of rent hikes that doubled, tripled and even quadrupled fairgrounds rental rates.

Some individual 4-H groups have held non-sanctioned fund-raising events at the fairgrounds off East 10th Avenue.

The rollback applies only to youth groups. The December 2017 rent increase that drove commercial rents up by roughly 200 percent across the board are not affected.

Some 4-H coordinators contacted by the Herald declined to talk about the rollback. The organization has about 1,800 kids locally.

If approved, 4-H and youth groups will pay $200 to $250 for most of the livestock facilities, $350 for Building 1 and $1,200 for the remodeled Building 2. Other users pay a weekday rate of $890 for Building 1 and $2,100 for Building 2.

"I think it's great," said Commissioner Shon Small during a recent discussion with the fairground's new event coordinator, Bobbi Romine.

The county commission was forced to focus on the fairgrounds after the sudden departure of manager John Donley and a revolt by tenants over the rates it adopted in December. Long-time users such as the Cowboy Gathering said they couldn't afford the new rents and would consider other locations.

Rental income is expected to bring in $524,000 of the county's $3.5 million fairgrounds budget in 2017-18.

In addition to rolling back youth rents, county administrators pledged to rehabilitate bathrooms bear Building 1, which is expected to be the most used.

Youth groups will pay more for Building 4, which is being renovated. The rent will increase be $1,700, up from $1,275.

In other changes, the county is eliminating its weekday half-day rates, RV and boat storage and the $250 deposit it traditionally charged renters. Now, the money will be considered a processing fee.

In another major change, tenants will be responsible for their own table and chair rentals. Fairgrounds managers say users complain about their mismatched equipment.

Lori Lancaster, president of the Benton-Franklin Fair and Rodeo Association, the nonprofit that rents the fairgrounds for the annual fair, said it's great news that youth organizations are getting their discounted rates back.

But it's less clear what will happen with commercial tenants like the fair association, which leases the fairgrounds for a month starting in August.

The fair association is waiting for the county to offer a new contract to replace the five-year agreement that ends in 2018. This year's fair is covered by the agreement, but Lancaster is eager to negotiate a new contract before the fair begins Aug. 18.

The Benton County Republican Party held a gathering of about 320 people at the fairgrounds on Thursday. The party rented Building 4 for the first time for its annual fundraiser.

Jerold Strickler, treasurer, had hoped to attract 500 people, but said he was happy with the building and with the support and service.

It paid about $1,500 to use the building. Under the new rate structure, that would double to about $3,000, plus the cost to rent tables and chairs.

"As far as new rates and whether we’d do another event there, we haven't made any decision," he said..

This story was originally published May 18, 2018 at 5:06 PM with the headline "Here's what Benton County is doing to get kids back to the fairgrounds."