Rhino reports Greensboro Baseball LLC–which owns the Grasshoppers and New Bridge Bank Park—-got a little relief from the Guilford County Board of Equalization and Review over $35,000 in penalties for unpaid taxes on the downtown stadium.
The county agreed to reduce the penalties by $10,000. The penalties were assessed by the county on $90,000 in unpaid taxes when the stadium was owned by the Bryan Foundation, which built the stadium in 2005.
The Bryan Foundation sold the stadium to Greensboro Baseball to Greensboro Baseball. And although the county is holding the Bryan Foundation liable for the unpaid taxes and the penalties, Greensboro Baseball will be the one paying up, according to managing partner Cooper Brantley:
Brantley said the matter fell through the cracks at DGR because of the way that group was set up.
“DGR is not even a functioning entity,” he said, adding that it was a nonprofit created to facilitate the handling of the baseball stadium. “DGR is not business; it doesn’t pay taxes; it’s the Joseph M. Bryan Foundation.”
“Penalties are more appropriate for someone trying to evade taxes and that was not the case with DGR,” he told the five-person board.
E & R Board member Willie Johnson put it this way at the meeting: “So you kind of bought the dog with all the fleas?”
That got a good laugh from the handful of people in the room, but Brantley jumped in quickly.
“We wouldn’t even have the stadium if it weren’t for them,” he said of the Bryan Foundation.
The issue is unpaid taxes on “things like machinery, office equipment and other “moveable” items of value that are not land or part of the building’s structure.”
