The Dutchess County comptroller has issued an audit report on Dutchess Stadium, home of the minor league baseball team the Hudson Valley Renegades. Earlier this month, the team was announced as an affiliate of the New York Yankees.
Comptroller Robin Lois says she performed the audit on the county-owned facility at the request of some county legislators. The lawmakers say the approval of $3 million in capital improvements December 2018 was rushed. An additional $4.5 million in improvements is slated to begin in 2021.
“The stadium’s 26-, 27- years old,” Lois says. “It’s time for improvements but, my point in the audit was that we should have known these improvements were going to be needed and we should have been planning for it.”
Lois, a Democrat, says funding for capital projects at the stadium in Wappingers Falls should have been fully disclosed in the county’s 5-year capital plan.
“And I would assume, particularly with the Yankees coming in, they’re going to want even greater repairs,” Lois says. “So I’m thinking that upwards of $15 million worth of repairs is going to have to be happening in the future so we should be planning for that and safeguarding taxpayer funds and understanding how is this going to affect us because these capital improvements are also worked into our lease.”
The county has a 5-year lease extension with the tenant that expires December 31, 2023 and will soon need to be re-negotiated.
“The second finding is that we need to make sure that our lease is favorable to the county and to the taxpayers and that we’re not subsidizing in any way,” says Lois.
Republican Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro says once it became clear that the Renegades would remain in the minor leagues following a dispute between major and minor league baseball officials last year, the team and the county began negotiating a 20-year extension that includes capital investment.
“The question now with the exciting news of our relationship and partnership with the New York Yankees is what is the remainder of that investment to be. What are the priorities of this affiliate that might be different than the Tampa Bay affiliate,” says Molinaro. “We’ll negotiate those things. We already have, we already are. And the audit simply says you should do that. Yes, we agree, which is why we are.”
Lois and Molinaro say the audit’s release just days after word of the Yankees’ affiliation is pure coincidence, as the audit was started some time ago.
“The comptroller found what every comptroller has found regarding the stadium. There are years that it makes, it makes a, turns a profit through direct revenue and years that it doesn’t, but the specific items identified are all things the county has been engaged in,” Molinaro says. “We already have been negotiating the purchase of the land beneath the stadium. I inherited this very awkward arrangement where the county’s stadium is built on property owned by the Beacon School District. The audit suggests that we should purchase that land. Well, we’ve been negotiating for that land over the course of the last two years.”
He says COVID slowed negotiations earlier this year, but talks have resumed and a joint appraisal is under way. After Lois issued the report, Republican County Legislature Chairman Greg Pulver issued a statement, taking issue with Lois’ initial characterization that the Legislature requested the audit. Pulver says the Legislature did not, and asked Lois to correct the wording. Lois says it was a matter of semantics, and out of respect for Pulver and to maintain a good working relationship, she made the requested change.
“Maybe because he, it wasn’t a signed document requesting it on behalf of the full legislature, that’s what his argument is,” says Lois. “But I did speak to him. I did change the verbiage to say ‘at the request of many legislators.’"
Through a spokesperson, Pulver says the comptroller graciously agreed to change her report to reflect that the Legislature did not request the audit. As for the audit content, Pulver says he will use the information.
The New York Yankees announced November 7 that the team will move its High Single-A affiliate to Dutchess Stadium. And though a Mets fan, Molinaro welcomed the news.
“Prior to the Yankees, the Renegades were the third most attended minor league team in Minor League Baseball in the country. Now, with the Yankees affiliate, long-term baseball, multiple games, probably more fan capacity over time, you’re going to see that grow. But those fans come from, 60 percent of them today, come from outside Dutchess County, and they spend $1 million on site a year.”
He says fans can expect to see big league stars on rehab assignments in Dutchess County. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was no season this year for the Renegades, and Lois says the team could not pay its rent. Molinaro hopes the Renegades will be able to play ball come the spring, which could help bolster the county economically and help recoup lost revenue.
