Hillier hopeful arena plans will proceed

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, March 29, 2000

Mower County Commissioner Dave Hillier remains hopeful a multipurpose building project will go forward.

Wednesday, March 29, 2000

Mower County Commissioner Dave Hillier remains hopeful a multipurpose building project will go forward.

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"The city wants to meet again," Hillier, Third District, said of the on-going talks between the county board and Austin officials on how the project can reach fruition.

Two weeks ago, representatives of the county and city of Austin held another session to discuss the proposed building on the fairgrounds.

But every delay pushes the project further and further "down the road," according to Hillier, who also said such delays could drive construction costs still higher.

The project would include two sheets of ice and allow the city to change the focus of its Riverside Arena facility.

The building also would meet some of the fairgrounds’ building needs.

However, the price tag that architects now estimate it would cost shocked Hillier and Richard P. Cummings, First District county commissioner, who are spearheading the effort as the county board’s building committee.

Those new estimates ranged from a minimum of $4.5 million to more than $7 million.

The county has pledged $1.8 million to the project, while the city’s level of financial participation remains at the $450,000 level with certain conditions attached.

Hillier said a survey of contractors, specializing in combination exposition and ice-skating buildings, verified the architects’ estimates that cost estimates have risen by more than $1 million since last fall.

McDonald’s idea also was rejected.

Other informal requests for financial assistance have come from several of the county’s 20 townships, but none of them have been filled.

In rejecting Brownsdale’s request Tuesday, Cummings said: "The city of Brownsdale can abate their own taxes."

After the meeting, Tucker was asked whether the county board intended to share the tax largesse, which is invested by County Treasurer Ruth Harris and accumulates more than $1.6 million in interest each year.

Tucker said, "No, no way" and proceeded to advise mayors and council members as well as township officials to "save their gas" and not bring more requests to the county board.

He said laws forbid the county to use the revenue surplus on private developments in communities and that the county board recently has approved setting aside $3.7 million for county retirees’ health insurance costs.

"That money is coming from the reserves," he said.