Board expresses concern over share of hockey arena costs

Cloquet school board members got good news about the district budget Monday, when district finance director Candace Nelis announced that a possible $400,000 deficit for fiscal year 2019 (July 2018-June 2019) will be closer to $80,000.

Moving funds out of the transportation fund and additional special education revenue are two of the reasons for the reduced deficit, along with a grant that wasn’t included in the original budget as adopted. She said the district kept enough in its Fund 3 to cover transportation expenses, but moved the extra funds back into the general fund.

“It’s like you plan a fishing trip that isn’t as expensive as you thought, so you put the extra money back into your regular account,” she explained to the board, which unanimously approved the revised FY ‘19 budget.

That news sparked questions over possible plans to allow more kids, especially fifth-graders, to ride the bus to school, particularly in the winter months.

Cary said Cloquet Transit looked at shrinking the boundaries so kids wouldn’t have to walk as far, and estimated they would need to add one additional route at a cost of about $40,000.

“I wanted to see where it would go, where buses would pick up and drop off, and which kids they think would take advantage of the bus,” Cary said. “All our routes have more kids eligible to ride than actually ride. The trick here is trying to guess how many of the eligible riders would actually hop onto the bus.”

Cary said he is meeting with the bus company again soon.

Hockey costs

While the cost of renting the hockey arena wasn’t on Monday’s agenda, it was the subject of a fairly lengthy discussion after resident James Mallery voiced concerns.

“Since the city is taking over the hockey arenas, does that mean our old agreements would be null and void and renegotiated?” he asked the board. “I see CAHA (Cloquet Amateur Hockey Association) has negotiated theirs to be dropping down to next to nothing. The Wilderness has dropped down dramatically. We’re still their largest tenant.”

Mallery peppered the board with questions, wondering aloud if the school district gets four times the use of the rink to go with its larger bill.

The school district currently pays the city $125,000 a year to use both The Barn and the Northwoods Credit Union hockey arenas for its girls and boys varsity and junior varsity teams.

In recent years, CAHA has paid $70,000 a year toward debt payments but also managed and owned the rink. Under the terms of a new agreement with the city, CAHA will reduce its payments (for use of the arena) to the city from $70,000 in 2019 to $45,000 in 2020 and $25,000 in 2021 while still managing the arenas. The Wilderness also recently renegotiated a two-year lease with the city.

Superintendent Michael Cary said he met with CAHA officials and the rink director, and he was expecting a breakdown of costs from them.

“Part of the issue, I’ve heard, is that with our lease we are always looking at prime ice time between 4 and 9 p.m., whereas the Wilderness are using the ice at 11 a.m. or other times when no one else wants to use it,” Cary told the board.

He also said coaches use the rink in the summer now, during the window of time when they are allowed to have organized practices with the players.

Board chair Ted Lammi pointed out that retired superintendent Ken Scarbrough looked into the issue three years ago.

That was before the city agreed to take over ownership of the rink — which is facing huge upkeep costs over the next 5 to 10 years.

“After reading about it in the paper, I felt like, wow, we are covering everyone else’s expenses,” said board member Duane Buytaert. “With everyone else’s prices going down, I’m curious to see what will happen when it’s time for us to renegotiate.”