Athens Borough Discusses Rec Center Losses
By Tiffany Peden, The Daily Review, Towanda, Pa.
Jul. 30–ATHENS — Athens Borough Council member Joe Polzella presented to the council at its meeting some figures addressing the total revenue versus total cost of the Athens recreation center since its closing in 1998.
Since the closing of the building, the borough has lost a total of $263,038.61, council member Todd Kent Campbell said.
The total cost to run the recreation building, including electric, gas, maintenance, water, sewer and janitorial bills is about $24,000 per year, Athens Borough Council President Paul Chacona said.
The major income for the building comes from Head Start, he said, which pays $18,000 per year. There are other organizations that rent the building — such as when it is rented as a polling place — that pay minor amounts to use it, he added.
Chacona said the total rent revenue is over $18,000, and with the cost to run the building at more than that, the net deficit is $6,800 per year, he said.
“When this started … there was an assumption that there was going to be some recreational development,” Chacona said. “The YMCA was going to come in, they were going to cover the cost of this, and the borough was going to be free and clear of this within two to three years. Obviously that did not materialize.”
Because of the problems with the money being lost, Chacona said he felt there were two choices the borough had.
“One is some sort of endeavor to increase the revenues to cover the expense, which currently is about $7,000-plus for the insurance a year additional revenue, or divest ourselves of it,” he said. “Those are really the only two logical choices we have.”
Chacona said the rent of the building could either be increased, or other sources of revenue could be sought out.
If the borough decided to divest itself of the recreational center, Chacona said there is a process it would need to go through, as far as offering it to different entities. Because of deed restrictions, however, Chacona said the building would have to remain a recreation facility.
“It’s clear when we accepted this there was a plan,” Chacona said. “We had some assurances through the Towanda folks and some other folks that this was not going to be a problem. It’s turned into a problem.”
Chacona recommended that Polzella look into the problem further to come back to the council later to discuss what needs to be done.
Tiffany Peden may be reached at (570) 888-9652; e-mail: reviewvalley@thedailyreview.com
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