6.1. SR 05-22-1995 - Laserfiche WebLink

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hockey contributions can only support about a $2.1 million project. This of course is the problem - we are about $700,000 away from having a project. Being short of funds for this project is not too much of a surprise. Being $700,000 short of a bare bones facility is a little surprising, but it has been expected for some time that the cost for a bare bones facility would exceed the amount of money available. Ice arenas are expensive projects and, for example, the Lakeville project had a $500,000 plus contribution made in order to get that ice arena project accomplished. Ice arenas are difficult to finance and that is also why the Mighty Duck legislation has been talked about for a couple of years. If the Mighty Duck legislation becomes reality, and the city is fortunate enough to receive a $250,000 grant from this future program, we are in a much better position to move forward with this project. The good news is that we still have over $2 million available for the project, but we just don't have enough to do a bare bones facility. At this point, with the project being so underbudgeted, I cannot recommend that we proceed with going out for bids for any components of this project. The council has already authorized going out for bids for the pre-cast concrete and the steel for this project due to the large amount of time needed from awarding bids to actually receiving these project components. At this time I do not believe we should proceed with advertising for these two components. The overriding fact is that ice arenas are expensive and rarely are there enough revenues to construct them without major fundraising efforts taking place and contributions from government agencies taking place. In the very near future we should know the status of the Might Duck legislation and whether or not we have any hope of getting funds from this program. The Youth Hockey organization can continue to do fundraising, but this may be difficult with such a large gap in the project and with the status of the project being so uncertain. The city could offer to match contributions from the private sector up to a certain level to help raise funds. The city could request that the school participate financially into this project as a lot of the need for this project is generated through the gender equity law and the desire for a better facility for the high school hockey teams. Additionally, we could ask the public to approve a $500,000 - $700,000 bond issue for the balance of this project. The public may be receptive to this when they know that they are not paying for the entire project, but are only being requested to put in about twenty-five percent of the project with the balance being raised through ongoing revenues. The task force has looked at options in terms of dramatically changing the program for the ice arena facility, but there is not too much that can be done other than constructing an outdoor arena which is not acceptable. The task force is in a holding pattern at this time and any • input that we can receive from the City Council on how to proceed would be appreciated.