News Photo by Steve Schulwitz A local hockey team practices at the Northern Lights Arena on Wednesday after the Alpena County board’s finance committee voted to extend the county’s contract with Northern Lights Arena-Community to manage the arena. The extension is only for four months because both parties are working toward a long-term deal, which could stabilize sluggish finances at the arena.

ALPENA — Alpena County’s contract with Northern Lights Arena-Community was set to expire at the end of the month, but on Wednesday the county board’s finance committee voted to extend the contract for four months as talks continue toward a longer deal.

Because of some financial struggles at the arena, it appears NLA-C may be looking for some concessions from the county so it can solidify its bottom line.

During the meeting, Commissioner Bill Peterson — the former president of the arena’s former longtime manager, the Multi-Purpose Arena Coalition — said arena management and the NLA-C board are doing a good job, but finances are a concern. He said talks on a new deal are ongoing and he is hopeful they can reach a deal that is fair to the county, NLA-C and the rink’s users.

“They are doing a good job for the amount of people they have,” Peterson said. “The numbers for them are tight and I think we’ll look at what we can do to try to help them out somehow. We own that building and we need to try to help them find more money.”

Arena manager Keli Werda said NLA-C is a nonprofit organization that entered into the contract to run the arena, in exchange for revenues from events at the event. She said the goal of the management group is to keep ice rates as reasonable as possible and to host events the community enjoys.

Werda said the current contract has NLA-C paying large sums to the county for bond payments for the Ameresco project, which updated infrastructure at the arena and other county-owned facilities to make them more energy efficient. In exchange for those payments, NLA-C should benefit from lower energy rates at the arena.

Werda said that, this year, NLA-C had to pay $39,528 and the amount will continue to go up until 2028, when it peaks at $56,683. She said the county is also reimbursed for its property insurance on the arena, which costs NLA-C about $9,000 a year. NLA-C is also responsible for the first $6,000 in repairs or maintenance at the arena. After that, the county will pay for the full cost of any work done to original aspects of the arena. If repairs or replacement are needed on something that is not original, the full amount comes out of the pocket of NLA-C, Werda said.

The county also receives $1 from every ticket sold to events, which is deposited into a fund that is used only for large expenses at the arena.

Werda said she hopes the new deal will help relieve some of the financial burden the arena is suffering through. She said the line between being in the red or black is so fine that simple things like hosting new events is difficult because of the risk they may not be successful and there could be a financial loss from them.

“It adds up to be about $60,000 a year that we pay the county to rent this facility and run it,” Werda said. “That is part of the reason we lose money every year. If we could just get the county to work with us a little more, we would be closer to break-even and that would be huge. Right now, we just can’t afford to lose money on anything and we are really handcuffed in what we can and can’t do.”

Unlike the Plaza Pool, which receives funding from the county’s youth and recreation millage for operations, the arena has received only a small potion of the millage money and it has all went toward programming. Werda said additional allocation from the millage would also help bolster the area’s finances and NLA intends to make additional requests for that money in the future.

“People think because the county owns the arena that we use taxpayer money to operate, when in fact we don’t,” she said. “We do apply for other grants, but don’t get a taxpayer stipend. Out of the life of the youth and rec we have only gotten about 4 percent of it and it has been strictly prohibited from being used for operations.”

Werda said she hopes contract negotiations will lead to less money having to be sent to the county. She said that, if the current financial situation continues, there is a chance ice rates will need to be increased. If that happens, there will be a trickle down effect that will impact local businesses.

“With the tournaments we have, we bring millions of dollars into the community and into the pockets of our community partners,” she said. “Last year, we had 13 tournaments and they brought 3,000 families to Alpena. We could raise ice rates and tournament fees, but our 13 tournaments would probably turn into four and instead of having eight teams in each, we could only have four. That is a lot of money lost to the community.”

Werda and Peterson are both confident a new deal will be reached and it is likely to be a three-year deal with two one-year renewal options. Werda said she is confident commissioners know how difficult is it making ends meet at the arena and are willing to help.

“There has been progress and I know they know we are taking losses,” she said. “We aren’t in this to make a lot money, but enough to stay open, keep rates reasonable and offer the programming people deserve and expect.”

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com or 989-358-5689. Follow Steve on Twitter @ss_alpenanews.

NLA-C payment toward Alpena County Ameresco bonds

The breakdown below shows what Northern Lights Arena-Community pays toward Alpena County’s Ameresco bonds each year.

2018- $39,528

2019- $42,630

2020- $43,800

2021- $44,933

2022- $47,882

2023- $50,756

2024- $51,698

2025- $52,602

2026- $55,212

2027- $57,969

2028- $58,683