PenMet’s new Community Recreation Center (“CRC”) is a beautiful facility. That said, I have been very concerned about the financial impact that a $31.6M (originally estimated to be just over $22M) project like the CRC might have on PenMet’s overall fiscal health. It may be that the CRC provides sufficient income to justify the huge cost of construction and the cost of operations. If so, I will be the first to applaud the PenMet Board for its vision and execution.
I recently requested: (1) the most recent budget for the CRC and (2) the operating financials for the CRC for 2025. What I received was an email with a document entitled the “PenMet Parks Recreation Center Revenue and Expense Detail” (“the Detail”) attached. The email called this document the “2025 Budget Detail – Rec Center.” Accordingly, I have no idea if these numbers are actual numbers for 2025 or Budget numbers for 2025. In addition, the Detail does not indicate if these numbers (whatever they might be) are for only the months the CRC was open in 2025, for the first 12 months of operation, or some other time period. For a project as big as and as important as the CRC is to PenMet, I would think they would have very detailed budgets and very current operating results.
Here’s a summary of what’s shown in the Detail:
That same email said, “Regarding Part 2 of your request (i.e., the actual numbers), we do not currently maintain a record or financial report that specifically lists the current operating financials for the CRC for 2025.” I am being asked to believe that no one at PenMet has any idea of what the actual operating results have been since the CRC’s grand opening. I am stunned…