Fans of recent history may have been reminded last week of the track record the City of Fresno has with its involvement in private business ventures.

Seeing the Fresno City Council approve an above-market-value purchase of the Tower Theatre — as well as secure some of the parties against legal liability in messy ongoing litigation, it’s clear that taxpayers continue to be leveraged in a risky game with little upside.

One that’s still in the headlines is Granite Park, where the City co-signed a $5 million loan for the original project developer — and was on the hook in 2009 after the project crumbled.

Also in 2009, the City of Fresno guaranteed a $15 million loan to rescue the struggling Fresno Met Museum, which had been closed for three years as a renovation project dragged on and on. The City continues to own the former Fresno Bee building in Downtown Fresno after paying off the loan.

And here’s one that goes back a bit — in 1995 Fresno-based Air 21 was a startup, low-cost airline that enjoyed City-granted subsidies including debt deferment and leeway on rent to operate its hub here. Despite successful operations for a time, the venture was undercapitalized, crashing and burning in exactly a year’s time.

Just when it appears that city officials have learned the lessons of history, a 4-person council block approved a $6.5 million purchase of the 83-year-old Tower Theatre — a price nearly $2 million above an agreement with Adventure Church that even made it as far as escrow.

With legal indemnification, critics of the deal believe the total cost could reach more than $20 million, according to GV Wire.

Those are big numbers, and most importantly, those are taxpayer dollars that could and should be spent solving homelessness, fixing streets and hiring police. Instead, that money is wrapped up in a business venture with an uncertain future.

And the list of fails grows longer.