Dear Anne Arundel County Tennis Community,
County Executive Steuart Pittman’s proposed FY23 budget, announced April 29th, does many good things for county residents and for many sports ($54.7 million for Rec and Park capital projects). That’s terrific. Unfortunately, Mr. Pittman’a budget completely abandons tennis. Here are the facts.
The Tennis Center project has been eliminated.
The tennis site has been given to sports fields.
The tennis funding has been given to fields at “Millersville Park.”
There is no future Tennis Center project identified.
After deliberations in May, the County Council will approve the budget by June 15. No additions are permitted.
What happened?
When the County failed to procure a private sector partner to share construction costs, County Executive Pittman eliminated the project and all previously committed support for the project. He ignored the long-established need and demand for tennis. He ignored 6 years of prior support from the County Council for the Tennis Center at Millersville Park project. He dismissed over 8 years of community organizing, emails, letters, stand-ups, and studies.
The Tennis Center project is the only project eliminated from the current FY22 capital budget, despite the fact that Rec and Parks received “record funding” ($99.7 million) in FY23. None of the 52 capital projects in the FY23 budget require a private sector partner to share construction costs.
Why is tennis singled out?
Frankly, we do not know. Here’s what we do know:
To its credit, the County Department of Rec and Parks did a lot of good work in a first-time initiative to develop a sports facility project working with the private sector to share costs. Rec and Parks issued an RFP (Request for Proposal) for a P3 (public/private/partnership) project and the Office of Law produced a lease (with Coppermine) to go before the Council. In the end, the Council rejected the lease wanting to see more visible public benefits and controls. Lessons were learned.
Failure to execute in a first-time department initiative is not a reason to dismiss the tennis community needs and dismiss the multi-constituency public benefits that this countywide project was teed up to deliver. With the site and $6.5 million in funding in hand, many options were available to move the project forward - with or without a partner - in a phased track - with additional funding.
Mr. Pittman chose to eliminate the project and tell the tennis community to start over with no funding and no site.
You can comment on the FY23 budget. Here’s how:
ON LINE COMMENT: All testimony submitted online is received and reviewed by the entire Council as it is submitted and added to the official record. Deadline to comment is June 14. Proposed FY23 Budget Testimony
IN PERSON TESTIMONY: Public comment is Wednesday May 18th at North County HS, you must sign up to speak.
What's Next?
The Tennis Alliance will continue to research facility options and continue to advocate for a public indoor/outdoor tennis center for Anne Arundel County residents.
The Tennis Alliance is a USTA Community Tennis Association and an USTA NJTL Chapter (National Junior Tennis and Learning). We will continue to bring the lifetime sport of tennis to people of all ages and abilities while promoting the health benefits and values learned through sport.
If you are interested in joining the Tennis Alliance leadership team as we move into our next phase, please contact me.
Louise Thomas
President Tennis Alliance of Anne Arundel County
