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Residents Ask, What Is Real Cost Of Ice Rink Plan?
By Catherine Galioto
Plans to buy the Ocean Ice Palace and convert it into a community center continued to receive heated resident response, when at the township council meeting last week questions of the project financials swirled about.
The price tag is $5.4 million to buy the 13-acre property, which would become a multi-purpose community center. The Township Council agreed to that amount and added it to the annual budget in an amendment passed last week. The amount will come from the capital budget, Township Administrator Scott Pezarras said.
When questioned by residents where the money would come from, Pezarras said it would come from the surplus the township has built up.
However, resident George Scott pointed out that township already has dipped into its surplus in order to keep the township tax rate from rising too fast. The surplus can also serve as revenue for the township, he said, in that it bears interest, growing the township coffers further. But when the surplus is used, the amount withdrawn plus the interest amount is lost, Scott said.
The longstanding Ocean Ice Palace, on Chambersbridge Road, is not the only building on the property: a pool, a dormitory, and the ice rink building and business are also there, as is the neighboring Bally's.
Scott also asked about the lease for Bally's, which could add to the overall cost if the township must buy it out in order to use that part of the facility.
When all is said and done, Scott estimated the actual price tag of acquisition at more than $7 million, when you add in these factors.
Other residents wondered what the cost to see the project to completion would be. The township has no estimates as of yet. One resident asked whether estimates would prove similar to those originally made for the Foodtown site when it was considered to be a good home for a community center. That estimate was $20 million.
Council Vice President Ruthanne Scaturro said the vote that week was simply for whether to amend the budget, and that detailed plans would be coming. Officials said a group of residents working with Glenn Campbell of the township administration were exploring different ideas for the site. The hope is to turn it into a community center to house recreation, senior services and meeting space.
Other residents applauded the idea. Resident Nan Coll said the project has a value as a land purchase.
Officials said the site could also be a revenue generator, as private hockey clubs and public schools would pay the township to use the site for its league and varsity sports.
Pezarras said the Brick Hockey Club pays about $325,000 annually, and the two schools that use it pay about $50,000. Were the township to buy the facility, those monies would then end up in township coffers.
In addition, part of the sale price would be paid through the sale of Civic Plaza and the Foodtown site, officials said.
But Scott is more interested in determining what the complete picture looks like fiscally.
"We want to hear what the total cost is," he said. He is also a fan of the mayor's idea of having the project be put up to a vote by the residents, via a referendum on November's ballot. "It should be left up to people paying the bill," he argued.
Resident John Vincenti also came to speak about the project. He drove to the site to see what the township was buying, and decried the conditions in his comments to the council. He said he was angered to read about the spending the township is doing in the same week his growing tax bill arrived.
"The first thing I said to myself is 'here we go again,'" Vincenti said. He called the plans a rush to purchase.
Officials in previous meetings said it was more like an opportunity that presented itself, an idea that first began 15 years ago.
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