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*The Washington State Horse Park Authority Board of Directors set up the <br />organization to be run as a commercial operation by an experienced and <br />successful professional manager. <br />*The organizationof the institution be that of a non-profit corporation,avoiding <br />designation as a State governmental entity and thus avoiding the labor and <br />procurement procedures required of State governmentalunits. <br />*The Board focus its activities on obtaining funding commitmentsrequired for the <br />construction of improvementsand the first five years of operation. <br />*That the Board actively work with existing equestrian organizations to promote <br />the Horse Park project. <br />Our findings are reflected in the national equestrian park picture,where large and <br />medium sized facilities are typically subsidized around 20%of operating revenues. <br />Only two of twenty-fivehorse parks break even. <br />Under these circumstances there are several major provisos that must be met before <br />we can recommendthat the plans to raise funds for the facility proceed.The first two <br />are that capital repaymentnot be required and that property taxes be waived.Third is <br />the requirementthat in order to assure successful operation,the Horse Park Authority <br />must recruit a facility manager from the upper 90 percentile of managers and support <br />that managerwith top-notch review and assistance by professional equestrian <br />managementprofessionals.Finally,the facility will require subsidization from either <br />private foundationsor public coffers of approximately$80,000 per year. <br />However,the positive economic impacts accruing to Kittitas County and to Washington <br />State add somejustification to financially support this endeavor. <br />52