Citing more than one-million dollars in outstanding bills from local contractors that haven’t been paid, Spokane County has presented a “Letter of Default” to Austin Motorsports Management, LLC; the contract operator of Spokane County Raceway.
According to Board Chair Todd Mielke, Austin Motorsports has sixty-days to cure four separate bases that are outlined in the letter, one of which is failure to pay for outstanding amounts owed to contractors for work done at Spokane County Raceway. Failure to remedy these items within two-months will result in termination of the contract. “We’ve had a successful season, but we also have an operator who isn’t paying local businesspeople and we can’t allow that to continue. We sincerely hope the situation will be remedied within sixty-days but if that doesn’t happen, Spokane County is prepared to take over operations at the track on a temporary basis. Fortunately, the season will be over and that will give us time to determine the best course of action, prior to the start of the 2010 racing season,” Commissioner Mielke said.
Expressing disappointment, Commissioner Bonnie Mager recalled their high hopes when the BOCC entered into the contract, “The community was counting on Austin Motorsports to make a go of the raceway – it’s extremely regrettable that local businesses have not been paid in full. Austin Motorsports contracted for work performed by these businesses, and it is clearly their financial responsibility.”
Austin Motorsports Management, LLC, has made approximately two-million dollars in capital improvements at the track since taking over the operation. However, the contract gave the operator two-years to complete the improvements.
For more information, contact Parks, Recreation and Golf Director Doug Chase at (509) 477-2720.
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