Avenir Centre funding unsettled as group disputes its original commitment

The doors are open and fans are attending games by the thousands, yet a key part of howMonctonplans to pay for theAvenirCentre stillhasn't been settled.

The city approved construction of the 8,800-seat downtown arena in 2015 with a funding plan that included payments of $250,000 annually from DowntownMonctonCentre-villeInc. over 15 years.

The first payment is set for 2019, but city council was told Monday there's still no funding agreement. And the business group now disputes it committed to annual payments of $250,000.

"There was no clear agreement signed at the time," Anne Poirier Basque, the group's executive director, told reporters Monday at City Hall after presenting the group's 2019 budget to council.

"So that is what everyone had more or less understood, but that's not what the reality is," she said of the specific annual amount.

A letter signed by Poirier Basque and the group's president in 2015 says otherwise.

"Passed unanimously at an extraordinary meeting on Thursday, August 6th, 2015, DMCI is therefore prepared to commit $250,000 for 15 years on the strict understanding that the projectwill be a multi-use Downtown Centre," the Aug. 10, 2015, letter to city council states.

CBC sent a copy of the 2015 letter to Poirier Basque on Tuesday but did not receive a response.

It was a commitment included in a public presentation of the funding plan for the events centre on Aug. 12, 2015, when council voted to go ahead with the project and appeared in city financial reports as recently as June this year.

On Monday, Poirier Basque said the group still plans to give the city $3.75 million, but is looking at spreading its payments out over a longer period of time.

The organization's first payment is due in 2019, but it's not yet clear how much that will be.Poirier Basquewouldn't provide the number Monday, saying negotiations with the city are ongoing.

"We're trying to make sure we meet that commitment and at the same time make sure we don't impact our operations," she said.

The annual contribution is counted on city budgets as revenue to help pay for the annual cost of the centre and pay down the cost to build it.

The lower the amount paid by the group per year, the greater the city's share will be to cover the centre's cost.

Mayor Dawn Arnold said she expects the city will learn more about what it will receive from the group next month.

"I believe everyone is working very hard on that and we will know that very soon," she said.

Another aspect of the city's funding for the centre is a $5 million fundraising campaign. This fall, city council was told about $2.2 million has been raised so far. The campaign officially launched in May when the city announced it had secured$1.6 million in pledges.

DowntownMonctonCentre-villeInc.'s revenue is collected via a levy charged on downtown commercial properties of 16 cents per $100 of assessed value.

Records obtained earlier by CBC show the group expected the levy would also apply to theAvenirCentre, generating significant revenue it would then return to the city as part of the annual payment.

The organization is considering expanding the boundaries where the levy applies, something that would result in more revenue.

But Poirier Basque says that is not tied to its need to meet its funding commitment to the city.