After sinking more than $2 million into ice arena, the town of Lysander is finally turning a profit on the property — now that it’s been sold.
Lysander Town Supervisor John Salisbury announced the final numbers on the town’s sale of the Lysander Radisson Community Arena at Monday’s town board meeting. The town’s $550,000 sale to Home Ice 1 resulted in a profit of $255,002.45, which will be added to Lysander’s general fund balance.
“We got rid of an albatross around our neck,” Salisbury said of the ice arena, the sale of which closed March 5.
Salisbury also disclosed the financials of the ice rink under the town’s ownership of it from October 2014 through March 2015. In that period, their expenditures totaled $337,556. Revenue totaled $348,612, which breaks down as follows:
- Arena operations (ice time rentals): $285,837
- YMCA’s rent: $4,062
- Equipment rental: $500
- YMCA maintenance fund: $53,797
- YMCA snowplowing: $4,416
From the sale price of $550,000, the town subtracted $2,450 in credits to the purchaser, $10,000 owed on the lighting system, $2,547.55 in legal costs and $280,000 for the 2014 serial bond payment the town owed on the ice rink.
During the first public comment period, resident Bob Braun said Lysander residents were “overtaxed” when the tax rate jumped 37 percent from 2013 to 2014. He said the town should redistribute the profit from the ice rink to the taxpayers.
“When am I going to get [that money] back?” Braun asked.
Salisbury told Braun that money in the town’s unappropriated fund balance is used to reduce taxes or is appropriated for other expenses. He said residents in Lysander have benefited from the use of fund balance to keep taxes down.
“You can’t take [money] from the general fund balance and give it back to the taxpayers,” town attorney Tony Rivizzigno said.
Councilor Andy Reeves said since the ice arena is back on the tax rolls, that revenue will benefit the town as well.
A summary of the ice rink’s financials will be posted on townoflysander.org.
Progress for Lamson Road water
In addition to the ice rink report, the town presented the next step toward creating the Lamson Road Water District. Town engineer Al Yager has completed the proposed water district’s map plan and report, which outlines the boundaries and logistics of the district.
Yager said Article 12 of New York State Town Law, which deals with districts and special improvements, requires the inclusion of the map plan and report in the petition Lamson Road-area residents will submit in favor of the water district.
In 2007, the town took water samples from the Lamson Road area and found that many homes’ groundwater wells tested positive for iron-sulfur and coliform bacteria. Last year, a group of Lamson Road residents carried a petition, which 56.6 percent of area residents signed, in favor of forming the district.
One resident at the meeting, Chris Natoli, said the quality of his well water on Oswego Road is deteriorating. He thanked Reeves for letting him use water from Reeves Farms’ stand.
“Andy’s provided water for me at his farm stand — I’ve run out twice this year,” Napoli said.
Once the petition is completed, the Lamson Road Water District will be subject to permissive referendum. If residents, the town board and the New York state comptroller approve the creation of the district, construction would begin in the spring of 2016.
In other business
• The board approved several summer camp appointments for the parks and recreation department. Rates of pay range from $9 to $25 per hour for instructors and coaches for the town’s summer programs.
Councilor Bob Geraci said he questioned Recreation Director Tony Burkinshaw as to why the town needed to pay $25 per hour to summer reading and art camp employees.
“He defended them — they’ve been with parks for years and they’re schoolteachers,” Geraci said, adding that he hoped the town could look into hiring other employees at a lower rate in the future.
• The board authorized the supervisor to sign a four-year lease agreement with Syracuse Blue Print for a Canon large format color plotter/scanner for engineering, planning and zoning use.
Yager said he wanted to digitize numerous files for the town; currently, Lysander farms out its large format printing needs to Liverpool Blueprint for $4 per page.
The town will lease the plotter/scanner for $245 per month, with the total cost of $11,760.
• Lysander water district customers must schedule their water meter replacements by June 30 or they will have to shell out a $25 fee. At the April 27 meeting, the town board approved a $155,400 bond for the replacement of the town’s 450 water meters in the town’s 17 water districts.
In December 2014, Yager said the aging water infrastructure was causing the town to lose money. In response, the town raised water rates.
