This year’s District 5 All-Star Tournament team from The Dalles Little League ranked third place in the 8/9/10-year-old age group, with two wins and two losses. The team was managed by Brian Elledge and coached by Shane Elliot and Jeff Isaak.
Photo courtesy of The Dalles Little League Facebook
This year’s District 5 All-Star Tournament team from The Dalles Little League ranked third place in the 8/9/10-year-old age group, with two wins and two losses. The team was managed by Brian Elledge and coached by Shane Elliot and Jeff Isaak.
Photo courtesy of The Dalles Little League Facebook
Correction: A previous version of this article stated that The Dalles Little League was in support of a 20% allocation of TRT funds to Parks and Recreation. This was incorrect. According to The Dalles Little League Board President Katie Kelley, the organization is in support of removing entity-specific allocations of TRT funds, and instead is asking the city to consider applying a portion of TRT funds from the tourism-specific pool of this money to support the ongoing maintenance and improvement of Kramer Field.
THE DALLES — Amid proposed changes to The Dalles’ municipal code on hotel rooms and short term rentals, the city’s little league baseball organization is asking city officials to consider using tourism tax funds to support the upkeep and improvement of Kramer Park.
One of these proposed changes includes removing the 25% entity-specific allocation of TRT funds directly to the parks department, which has been in place since a 2003 levy. This levy has been going exclusively to parks and rec since the city paid off the Union Street underpass in 2014.
Should the overhaul pass as currently written, the city will decide how to use its TRT dollars by receiving budgetary requests from individual city departments and entities who will show how they plan to use the funds. At least 55% of this money must be used specifically for tourism promotion.
Little League Board President Katie Kelley told Columbia Gorge News that in August of 2023, Parks and Rec did not renew the lease for Kramer Park, effectively ending decade’s long maintenance and support. Following this change, The Dalles Little League submitted a request to Wasco County for the ongoing support of its activities and park maintenance.
Umpire in Chief Patrick Urain and Board President Katie Kelly made their case to the city council at a meeting Sept. 23, asking council members to consider how maintaining and upgrading Kramer Park will benefit tourism.
The park gets used by baseball, softball and soccer teams, Urain said, both by youth and adults. He noted sports camps and religious organizations that utilize the facilities.
“There are generations of The Dallas residents that have been at Kramer Park, utilize Kramer Park, remember Kramer Park very fondly, and we want to continue that for as long as Kramer Park needs to be viable,” he said.
Urain posited that if the city council chooses to spend some of its TRT dollars on Kramer Park, the little league will have the resources to host two or three baseball tournaments, to the benefit of tourism.
“We can bring people into this community to spend money in this community, but we need a viable place to do it,” he said.
Kelly noted at the board meeting that the last time The Dalles hosted a district tournament was2018.
She added that the community collaboration to put on youth baseball and softball isn’t just limited to the little league board and sponsors. A recent field clean-up day drew a significant level of regional support.
“We also recruited 100 community members from The Dalles, from Sherman County, and from Dufer, because their kids also participate in our league and play at Kramer Field,” she said. “They see the value in what we're doing.”
The current annual operating budget for Kramer Park is roughly $110,000, Urain said.
“This ask, ultimately, is to ask the councilors to consider adopting a change to the ordinance that allows the temporary lodging tax to be partially reallocated to the maintenance and upkeep of Kramer Field,” he said.
Urain ended with a story about a team from Tualatin who expressed amazement stepping out onto the green expanse of Kramer Field. They told Urain they don’t have anything back home that rivals Kramer Park’s beauty and wide-open space.
“They were super jealous. And it really gave me a renewed pride for that ballpark and that complex that I honestly didn't have to that level before,” he said.
Commented