Bannock County trying to keep wellness complex maintenance funds up

Mohna Thurnagle and her family have been taking advantage of the Portneuf Wellness Complex since it opened last year bringing picnics and using the facility’s soccer fields. She said the area’s been needing something like this for awhile.

“I’ve been jealous of other towns that have beautiful parks like this, so it’s nice to have ours,” Thurnagle said.

Last year, when the Portneuf Health Trust gave Bannock County the reins on the facility, it also gave the county $1.9 million for maintenance costs. To this day, the fund now stands at $400,000, so now the county commissioners are figuring out how to get funds to keep the facility looking great.

One option the commissioners could choose is having the community help subsidize the costs. Thurnagle said she wouldn’t mind fee increases; it just depends on what’s affected

“I wouldn’t mind if the concerts got a little more expensive or if they had to raise the cost of soccer tournaments a little bit. We use those facilities,” Thurnagle said.

There’s one thing Thurnagle would mind, however, and that’s a tax increase.

“I’m sure that’s a tough job and I don’t want the job of deciding where taxes go, but I feel like there’s enough tax money flowing to maybe re-allocate to costs here,” she said. “Especially with how much it’s being utilized and people love it.”

In a meeting Wednesday morning, the commissioners discussed possibly creating a parks and recreation department for the complex to help manage the complex’s maintenance.

There has been no official decision yet on what exactly to do. The county commissioners are holding a public hearing to learn what people have to say about this on July 20 at 9:15 a.m. at the Bannock County Courthouse.