Tour of Missouri in peril as state faces budget cuts
- By Steve Frothingham
- Published Jul. 9, 2009
- Updated Jul. 11, 2009 at 7:35 AM UTC
As part of a $430 million budget-reduction plan, the State of Missouri has frozen $1.5 million slated for the Sept. 7-13 Tour of Missouri. Race officials were notified Thursday of the financial situation, which if not remedied would cancel this year’s event.
“We are very surprised and shocked that this has happened,” said Chris Aronholt, managing partner of Medalist Sports, which runs the Tour of Missouri. “We have a signed contract. This is the third year of a three-year commitment.”
Missouri’s fiscal budget starts July 1. This year, the state budget director asked all departments for recommendations on cuts, said Jack Cardetti, spokesman for Gov. Jay Nixon.
“The department of economic development, just like all departments, made $10 million of recommendations, including $1.5 million for the race here,” Cardetti said. “That was a recommendation that the budget director will review and decide on in the next couple of weeks.”
The state now has a total of $430 million of cuts or restricted programs.
“The governor is concerned that we get ahead of these fiscal measures, so we don’t end up in the situation like California or other states,” Cardetti said. “We don’t want to be forced to do things like close schools or prisons. So we’ll look at all these measures across the board and see which ones we will implement.”
The race has a budget of approximately $3.5 million, according to Steve Brunner, president of KOM Sports, the marketing arm of Medalist. “We need that $1.5 million to drive the heart of what we’re doing, and we make up the rest on sponsorship.”
Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, a Republican, was an early champion of the race, and continues to support the event. Gov. Nixon, a Democrat, took over the office this year.
“We’re working closely with the Lt. Gov. to understand why the money has been frozen,” Aronholt said. “Operationally we are doing are best to stay focused and on task. We are hoping the state of Missouri will be able to right the ship. I think it’s some political games that will be straightened out here shortly.”
FILED UNDER: News / Road TAGS: Tour of Missouri
Steve Frothingham
VeloNews.com editor Steve Frothingham joined the gang in bike-crazy Boulder in early 2008. He is the former executive editor of the trade magazine Bicycle Retailer & Industry News. He also was a reporter and editor for The Associated Press, where he covered three presidential primaries in politics-crazy New Hampshire. His racing career began on a BMX track in 1980 and reached its zenith with several miserable road races as a category 2 in the early 90s. He subsequently retreated to cat. 3, where he has had a consistently mediocre (at best) record ever since, in road, mountain bike and cyclocross events. Follow him on Twitter at @steve_froth