Boston Borough Council's Cabinet is really blitzing through the money this week.
As well as all but forgetting the million pound loan that is costing taxpayers more than £100,000 a year in interest due to what has laughingly been dismissed as "a very major case of very poor judgement," our rulers in the Bostonninnies have carried on by chucking another £8 million down the drain.
This time it's a series of write-offs for the town's great white elephant, the Princess Royal Sports Arena.
A report to tonight's meeting has been produced to provide a review of key items which have cropped up as part of the leisure services contract award to a company called Leisure Connections - under which the council hands over the PRSA and the Geoff Moulder Leisure Centre, whilst still retaining responsibility for maintenance of the PRSA, and after refurbishing the Geoff Moulder at a cost of £2 milliion.
Although serious concerns have been voiced about the suitability of Leisure Connections as the preferred operator of the two Boston centres, these seem to have been brushed aside (where have we seen that before?) and we have a nasty feeling that in a few years, when the BBI's reign is nothing more than a sour memory, the turkeys will come home to roost.
The PRSA was conceived in 1997 through the Boston Sports Forum - formed to promote sport in the Borough - and the council, which was a member, originally agreed to contribute £3 million to its construction.
But rising costs, lower than expected contributions from others and an operating deficit each year left the council digging into the taxpayers' pockets to provide more and more money for the Boston Sports Initiative which runs the arena.
In June 2003 as a result of the projected shortfall, the council chipped in a loan of £1.9 million and guaranteed two further loans totalling £1.4 million so construction could continue and also agreed to support "operating" deficits (which excluded interest charges) of the arena over the five years of operation, which was extended in December 2008.
At the end of the day the grand total to emerge is a staggering £8,275,298.
The cabinet is now being asked to recommend to the council the write off of the outstanding long term loan of £1.9 million, and the write off to the general fund balance, of any outstanding current liabilities held by Boston Sports Initiative with the council, conditional on the surrender of the lease.
The council also had to advance cash to the charity during 2008/09, which exceeded their in year operating deficit, for the repayment of the Lloyds TSB overdraft facility, and it is likely that this amount will not be fully recovered. This means the council must charge its general fund balance for writing off this advance- and impact of between £100,000 and £200,000, and a formal write off conditional upon the surrender of the asset is recommended to the council.
Students of irony might recall that Boston's chief executive at the inception of the PRSA was Mark James, who is quoted as saying that it "wouldn’t cost the taxpayer a penny."
Mr James left the borough in February 2002- six months before building work began, to become chief executive of Carmarthenshire County Council in Wales. There, his most high-profile project has been ... the construction of a multi-million pound rugby and athletics arena. Mr James's council is a 'joint partner' alongside Llanelli Scarlets rugby team and pledged £15 million towards its construction. The anticipated £1m profit in 2009 at the new Parc Y Scarlets stadium has been reported as a £3.3m loss. For more on this, see Boston Borough Councillor Raymond Singleton-McGuire's blog at http://www.smgblog.co.uk/?p=1873
Echoes of the past.
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