WORCESTER – The account the City of Worcester established to pay for the construction of Polar Park fell $557,000 short of the city’s payment obligations after fiscal year 2024, which ended June 30.
City Manager Eric Batista forwarded a report from the city’s Chief Financial Officer Timothy McGourthy to the city council for its meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 18. In the report, McGourthy identified $792,000 in revenues budgeted for fiscal year 2024, which remain uncollected.
The uncollected funds include:
- $344,564 in Real Estate and Property Tax
- $62,496 in Meals and Use tax
- $384,979 in Building Permits
According to the report, the account for the ballpark fund ended fiscal year 2024 with $235,000 in reserves. It ended the 2023 fiscal year with a reserve of $2.7 million.
McGourthy said in the report that, “certain projects have moved forward more slowly than anticipated resulting in a lag in full receipts.” He added that high interest rates have affected construction costs, which makes financing projects more expensive for developers.
The report also says that the city expects that city’s general fund will recover the deficit owed by the ballpark fund over the course of the 30-year lifespan of the project. McGourthy added the city continues to expect the fund will generate $50 million through completion of the city’s loan obligations in 2048.
As This Week in Worcester previously reported, near the end of fiscal year 2023, the city said the reserve fund held $600,000 with a $6.2 million payment obligation in fiscal year 2024. In 2023, the ballpark district fund generated $3.1 million in revenue for the city.
The city established a District Improvement Financing Plan (DIF) in 2018 to pay for the borrowing for Polar Park. The DIF originally included the ballpark and two parcels across the street, developments by Madison Properties. In 2022, the city increased that area to include additional areas between the ballpark and Green Street, which include developments at the former location of the Cove and Table Talk Pies.
City officials said when proposing the construction of Polar Park that revenue from within the DIF area would pay for the ballpark without affecting the general fund.
