Vandalism, Electricity Just Some Of The Things Running Up The Tab At Roberts Stadium

When most of us close up shop on a building for the last time, we stop running up the bills on the place too.  But that’s not the case with the abandoned Roberts Stadium. 

In fact, as of January 11, 2012, since the last official event was held there on September 18, the old girl has run up a bill totaling $73,332 according to information from city controller Russ Lloyd, Jr.

And it’s all being spent to keep an empty building running.

All of that money comes out of the city budget.  Granted, some of the cash to pay the $73,332 bill came out of last year’s budget but the Evansville-Vanderburgh Building Authority has already requested $94,000 to keep Roberts Stadium “alive” during the first quarter of the fiscal year.

Meanwhile a task force (put together by Mayor Lloyd Winnecke and headed by Larry Steenberg) has been organized to decide what to do with the old stadium.

The first meeting of the task force will be this Thursday at 5:30 at the Centre in the Locust and Walnut rooms.  The second, 10am, January 28, at Roberts Stadium, and the third, at 5:30, February 1, again at the Centre.  All of the meetings are open to the public.

Mayor Lloyd Winnecke has said the decision about what to do with the abandoned stadium will not be a long, drawn-out process because that will cause the community more money.

(Evansville Courier)