The Biddeford Ice Arena owes the city over $60,000 in overdue payments. But officials say they reached an agreement this week for payments to resume. (Courtesy of Biddeford Ice Arena)
The Biddeford Ice Arena owes the city more than $60,000 in overdue payments, officials confirmed Friday.
Assistant to the City Manager Danica Lamontagne said significant turnover in the city’s finance department caused a yearlong lapse in invoices for the arena’s monthly payments.
Officials from the arena and city say the two sides came to an agreement this week for payments to resume.
At a Finance Committee meeting Tuesday, Finance Director Gerry Matherne said the city hasn’t received the arena’s payments “for quite a while.”
“We’re still waiting for those funds,” Matherne said.
The arena was not invoiced for 12 months, Lamontagne said, totaling $62,157 in owed payments. The arena is responsible for paying the city $5,179 per month.
But the monthly payment is not rent.
The building itself is owned by the city, but the arena is operated by the Board of the York County Arena Association under an agreement with the city.
The monthly payments, arena Board Chair Jim Mulligan said, cover the cost of loans for improvements made on the building.
“When people say, ‘Oh, they’re not paying their rent,’ that’s not quite right,” Mulligan said.
Mulligan said the arena is responsible for paying the city for two building improvement loans: The first predates both the current arena board and the city administration and totals about $3,000 a month, while a second costing around $2,000 a month was taken out about six years ago, when the arena replaced compressors that freeze the indoor ice rink.
About a year ago, amid significant turnover in the city’s finance department, arena leaders decided to withhold their payments to the city while seeking clarity about their obligations.
“We didn’t know when the preexisting loan started, when it ended or if it had been paid off,” Mulligan said. “We’d been asking the city for some evidence of the debt, and they weren’t able to provide it for us.”
On Thursday, the city was able to provide arena leaders with the information they needed, Mulligan said, and the board will be able to move forward with a payment plan.
“We have the information,” Mulligan said. “We have money set aside.”
Mulligan noted that the arena is not funded by taxpayers: All operating expenses and repairs are paid for by the arena itself.
Because of its self-financing, though, upgrades are hard to come by. That’s why arena leaders asked the city in December for over $200,000 for updates including a new Zamboni and new bleachers.
The funding would come from a $6 million recreation bond that voters approved in November.
“We are looking forward to working with the city on funding for our priorities and the things that the city thinks they should focus on for the arena,” Mulligan said. “It’s been a long time coming, and the facility has aged.”