The City Council on Tuesday killed Utah Valley Community College's hopes for an Olympic ice facility by deciding unanimously not to provide $3 million in backup financing.
Last week, UVCC President Kerry Romesburg asked the city for its support because the college's proposal for a combination Olympic ice facility and special events center was $3 million short of the $13.5 million needed.Romesburg said the college hoped to raise the money from donations but the city needed to provide a backup. He also said that the Utah Sports Authority requires all proposals for Olympic venues to come from the government entities where they would be located.
The city decision Tuesday leaves UVCC's proposal short on financing and without a sponsor.
City Manager Daryl Berlin said the city and UVCC discussed several alternatives to scale down the proposal. However, he said the parties could not come up with an acceptable option that would not require the city's financial commitment and at the same time meet the demands of the Utah Sports Authority. He told the council that the chance of having to someday honor the financial commitment was likely.
"I think if you're going to make the commitment you're probably going to have to do some or all of it," he said. "We may have to do $3 million, maybe less."
The council said the city has more pressing needs and it would be unfair to residents to put those needs off while committing funds to the proposed Olympic facility. The council is in the middle of completing the 1990-91 budget and has several issues to deal with that may lead to some kind of tax increase.
"How can we put this facility before roads and other capital needs?" Mayor Blaine Willes said.
Willes said the city probably would be willing to participate in the project if other Utah County communities would help with financing.
"I would like to see that kind of a facility there so bad my teeth ache," Willes said. "But it's a countywide facility. Orem should not be saddled with providing a countywide facility."
Berlin said that the June 14 proposal deadline does not allow Orem enough time to solicit participation from other cities. City Councilman Keith Hunt said he feels other cities would not cooperate anyway.
"All the other cities have the same problems we do, and they're probably not going to be too excited about helping, especially if the facility is going to be located in Orem," Hunt said.
The council favored continued cooperation with UVCC on possibly building an activities center without the ice sheet. Most council members said the ice sheet would be too expensive to maintain and not really be an asset to the community.
"The citizens of Orem could pay $1 million less to get a special events center, and that's really all we want," Hunt said.