MIDLAND COUNTY, Texas — The Midland County Horseshoe could soon be seeing a "modest" rental rate and fee increase in the future.
At this point, no official actions have been made, but discussions have been happening.
"Just good business to review your rates, and obviously, we have had double digit inflation the last two years, so things are costing more," said Joe Kelley, Executive Director of the Midland County Horseshoe.
Before the Midland County Commissioners Court, Kelley explained how they've been reviewing rates that have been the same since 2014.
"When you haven’t raised rates in nine years, to at least not stop and take a look at what you're doing, I think it makes good sense," said Kelley.
So to look into what the rates could be, Kelley will conduct an analysis, including information from venues in surrounding areas.
"Markets with similar populations, similar facilities, is what we will focus on," said Kelley. "Those being the primary ones, Lubbock, Amarillo, Odessa, El Paso would be the primary ones. I don’t know that the courts gonna elect to raise rates at this time. It’s just, we’ll do an analysis of probable facilities and probable sized markets."
The horseshoe will also put together an analysis of their own, something County Commissioner Luis Sanchez suggested.
"I think it’s something great to look at," said Sanchez. "You know, everything’s going up. I understand as the horseshoe continues to get busy, that’s something we need to look at. Something I did request is for us to get a little more detailed on what those things are. So, when you rent out AV equipment, chairs, tables, we want to make sure it’s very accessible to the public, and that when they go rent one of our facilities they know what they’re renting, and it’s not that they rent it and then later on there’s these fees that come with it. It’s great to know ahead of time."
Kelley is expected to come back in the next 30 to 60 days to present the analysis to the court so they can decide what they'll do moving forward.