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GREENSBORO — Just northeast of downtown Greensboro sits a $186,000-a-year taxpayer conundrum: War Memorial Stadium.

As the City Council considers cuts to balance a $423 million budget, all city expenses are being analyzed.

And what to do with the baseball stadium, which needs restoration and costs $186,000 a year to run, will be part of that conversation.

Choosing to close or tear down the park would require the move of 250 college and youth games.

Greensboro College and N.C. A&T play home games there, as do AAU and youth baseball teams. But that could change as the conversation begins and A&T and the city meet this week on the issue.

The questions are simple:

• Does the city want to renovate and maintain an 84-year-old baseball park and memorial to World War I soldiers?

• Would other uses suit the facility, such as markets, concerts or other activities?

• Should Greensboro try to sell the War Memorial Stadium to N.C. A&T?

Finding answers is difficult.

"If it came down to funding swimming pools, vs. the libraries, vs. the stadium," said Mayor Bill Knight, "I just can't see it (War Memorial Stadium) taking priority status."

Other council members have plans, too.

"We've got to have a better partnership with A&T, if possible," Councilman Zack Matheny said "We need to try to figure out if they want to partner with us more."

At-large council member Robbie Perkins suggested that other functions could work on the property.

"It may not have anything to do with baseball," he said. "I've got some ideas. I suggested some kind of tax credit or public-private venture like what we've done on Elm and Lee streets."

There is $1.3 million ready to help renovate a crumbling facade and broken bleachers, but all the work would cost about $3 million, according to Greg Jackson, the city's parks and recreation director.

"I don't think there's a deadline date" to find a solution, Jackson said. "Obviously, there's going to be a budget issue."

But talks on what to do there have dragged for at least 10 years.

Jackson said the city had preliminary conversations with A&T officials about a possible sale, but details have not been formally discussed.

Earl Hilton, athletics director at A&T, wrote in an email that the city and school will meet on the stadium Thursday, but he did not detail his expectations for the talks.

One point is sure: The place needs work.

"The field itself is very, very nice," Jackson said. "The stadium is another issue."

And the war memorial embodies nostalgia among those in the baseball community here, who argue that the building should not demolished.

"It's your old-time stadium that I would never knock down," said Alan Ashkinazy, owner of the Greensboro Batting Center who played games there for the minor league Greensboro Hornets.

"There's nothing wrong with it being old," he said. "If there was, Fenway Park would have been knocked down a long time ago."

Contact Gerald Witt at 373-7008 or gerald.witt@news-record.com