Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Rental Rates topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Board confirms existing Corn Palace rental rates, staffs calls for fuller cost data before 2025 increases
Summary
The board approved the existing Corn Palace rates that are already in contracts through 2024 and directed staff to return with detailed usage, concession profit, and tenant-cost data to inform any 2025 rate changes, amid concern MHS could shift to another facility.
The Mitchell board voted to approve existing Corn Palace rental rates now in current contracts and asked staff for more detailed financial and usage data before considering any rate increase for 2025.
Speaker 2, presenting staff analysis, said the method used to estimate hourly operating cost accounted for utilities, liability insurance and staffing costs. "The full day rental that we're currently charging is $17.50," Speaker 2 said, noting a 12-hour full day. Using the method in the packet, the staff-calculated rate was presented as "$19.54 an hour," and Speaker 2 referenced a previously suggested 15% increase from a departing staff member named Doug.
The board pressed staff for additional breakdowns. Speaker 4 highlighted per-event shortfalls and gave a concrete example: "so every 4 hours we're losing $200," and urged the board to weigh cost-recovery against possible lost bookings. Speaker 5 and others asked for historical concession and gate-fee data; Speaker 2 confirmed a 5% facility fee on gross ticket sales was implemented about two years ago instead of raising base rental rates and said concessions tracking is being revamped.
Board members expressed particular concern about reliance on a primary tenant. "If Mitchell High School decided, hey, we have this new facility ... we're out," Speaker 5 said, warning that losing a main tenant could materially increase the facility's deficit. Speaker 2 added that Mitchell High School practices in the facility free of charge and that last year’s invoice to MHS was "under $8,000," which staff will verify and return with supporting documents.
The board did not adopt a new fee schedule for 2025. Instead, members asked staff to provide: counts of full-day and half-day rentals, single-game and doubleheader frequency, tenant-by-tenant usage (MHS, DWU, visiting teams), historical concession profitability and facility fee revenues, and a clearer per-event cost accounting to present at the next meeting.
The meeting moved to executive session for additional discussion; any formal rate changes will require a future public action by the board.
