The Butler County Commissioners have rejected a request to help support the struggling Kelly Automotive Park.

The city Parks, Recreation Grounds and Facilities Authority sent the county a letter Sept. 15 requesting $100,000 per year to support the ballpark.

Authority Chairman Ed Codi said at his board’s meeting Monday that the commissioners declined the request.

“I spoke with (Commissioner Dale Pinkerton) and he said the major concern they have is they don’t want to set a precedent,” Codi said. “They are concerned about other organizations coming with their hands out.”

Codi said the authority was against receiving a contribution from the county if it meant the county having to raise any taxes.

But Codi felt the county could contribute and argued the ballpark is a countywide asset. He said the commissioners ultimately rejected the idea.

“I wasn’t able to change his mind,” Codi said.

William McCarrier, chairman of the commissioners, said in an interview this morning that he asked his colleagues individually if either was interested in considering the authority’s proposal and each responded no.

In the letter to the county, Codi said the authority had three options for the ballpark: default on its loans and turn the stadium back to the bank; have the city subsidize the facility through an increased recreational tax on residents; or have the county cover the facility’s costs.

In a response to the authority, county commissioners wrote in a letter that the county has never supported the park financially and isn’t in a position to start.

The county compared the ballpark to the Sunnyview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, which it sold to a private owner earlier this year.

“A similar scenario developed with the nursing home business which the County just transitioned out of,” the letter said. “Like the nursing home business, the County is not in position to get into the baseball stadium business.”

The authority has more than $264,000 in bills as of this past Thursday, including nearly $18,000 owed to Dollar Bank on the mortgage of the park.

With baseball season ending and no secured form of steady income during the winter, the authority is again looking to sell its share of the Butler BlueSox baseball team, the park’s primary tenant. The BlueSox are a team of collegiate players in the Prospect League.

The authority earlier this summer offered to sell its 40 percent share of the club for $75,000 to the team’s majority owner, Perfect Game LLC.

William “Wink” Robinson, one of the five owners in the majority group, told the board his group decided that price is too high.

“We’re not interested at $75,000,” he said, adding the average value of a prospect league baseball team that is sold or relocated is about $100,000 total.

The authority requested Robinson submit a counter proposal to its solicitor, which Robinson agreed to do.

The authority did make a motion it hopes will help generate more revenue next season.

The board agreed to drop the cost of banners at the stadium, perhaps most notably along the outfield wall.

The authority had been selling 8-foot by 9-foot outfield banners for $1,500 per season. That rate has been reduced to $1,000 per season, while the banners were doubled in size to 18 feet long.

The move came on the advice from the BlueSox’s majority ownership group, who entered into an agreement with the authority earlier this summer to help sell banners for 45 percent of the profit. The majority group only gets a percentage of the profit on banners it sells, while the authority would keep 100 percent of the income on banners it sells on its own.

“The costs of the signs are out of this league,” Robinson told the board. “And the size is too small.”

The authority sold about a dozen banners this past season. Robinson said there is room for about 30 of the larger banners in the outfield.

Board member Nick Ban said he agreed with Robinson, and said he thinks the authority could sell enough banners at the reduced cost to make up for the price drop.