BY Sheri McWhirter
Editor's note: Eighteenth in a series of stories on the people, places and events that made news in the region in 2008. To read previously published newsmaker articles, see record-eagle.com/newsmakers.
KALKASKA -- A new tax levy approved by a slim majority of Kalkaska County voters will have a big impact at the local sports arena and on the county's bottom line.
A millage to fund the Kaliseum will be levied for the first time in 2009 and that money will begin to arrive in 2010, allowing the county government to spend less to support the pool and ice rink complex along M-72 in Kalkaska.
The four-year tax at 0.25 mills will generate an approximate $185,000 per year.
"It just validates the Kaliseum. The people of Kalkaska are behind it and they want it," said Alan James, the facility's director. "We're not going to blow that money, by any means."
Voters approved the millage request by 19 votes in November, the third time they were asked to support a millage for the 10-year-old Kaliseum.
The new money stream will allow the county to spend less on the Kaliseum each year and perhaps build a tax-revolving fund, used for years to prop arena operations. The Kaliseum used about $2 million in county funds over the past decade.
"It will take the burden off the tax-revolving fund, which is used to pay off delinquent taxes to the townships, the village, the hospital and the schools," said Frank Wright, county controller.
The county borrowed money in recent years to pay off those delinquent taxes and incurred interest charges in the process, he said.
"The county may still have to support the Kaliseum, but not at $300,000 a year," Wright said. "It may drop to $50,000 or less a year. Maybe one day it could drop to zero."
And that is likely with recent growth in activities and users at the facility, said Debra Kimball, a county commissioner.
"Our whole budget has turned around. Our expenses are down and our revenues are up," she said.
More people swim in the pool, skate on the ice rink, work out in the gym and enrollment is growing in leagues and classes, such as hockey, table tennis, martial arts, dance, gymnastics and the swim team, James said.
"We've got a lot of good stuff going on with a lot of possibilities," he said.
First-time user Jane Bruso recently exercised in the gym and said she would have voted for the millage, had she lived in Kalkaska County at election time.
"The ability to have a gym without having to go to Traverse City is nice. There's something for everybody," Bruso said.
In 1996, voters approved a $6 million bond to build the complex, but turned down an operational millage request. The facility was built and opened in 1999 and voters again rejected a millage in 2001. Bond debt for construction is expected to be retired in 2020.
