$39-million ice bill

After the federal and provincial governments bailed, the city is
left holding the entire bill for a four-pad hockey arena in Bedford,
leaving municipal officials to cobble together a makeshift financing
scheme.

The $39-million arena complex on Hammond Plains Road was originally
envisioned as an economic stimulus project, with a third of the cost
paid by each level of government. But after local PC party members
backed an alternate private arena on Duke Street, the federal
government declined to fund the Hammond Plains arena through the
stimulus program. Instead, the feds gave $1 million to the Duke Street
project through the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.

On Tuesday, the NS government backed off from the four-pad, reducing
its expected $13-million contribution to $2 million.

As the backers of the Duke Street facility had received a
$1.5-million loan (never repaid) from the previous PC provincial
government, councillor Sue Uteck noted wryly that more provincial and
federal money ($2.5 million) has gone to the private facility than to
the public one ($2 million).

City officials maintain they had planned for a “worst-case scenario”
of receiving no federal or provincial funds for the four-pad, but that
decision was never enshrined in a council vote to move forward with
construction, said councillor Tim Outhit.

Regardless, by juggling the books and making some small policy
changes, council was able to finance the project and still keep within
its long-term policy of reducing capital debt. In essence, stimulus
money received for other projects was rolled together with a one-time
borrowing against expected gas tax revenues until 2015. If everything
goes right, city capital debt will be reduced from about $280 million
this year to about $260 million in 2014, continuing a downward trend
from $350 million in 1999.

This article appears in Nov 19-25, 2009.