Ralston Arena Debt Woes

The $36.8 million Ralston Arena opened in 2012 with 80 percent voter approval and officials touting the facility as something that would put Ralston on the map. But a sales tax plan on businesses surrounding the venue that was expected to generate around $625,000 annually has failed to pan out, leaving the arena in the red year after year.

Now, some are questioning whether the venue or the city can be rescued from the financial mess.

Paul Landow, a former chief of staff for Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey, told the local World-Herald the problem is “now to the point where it’s no longer a matter of ‘Can we save the arena?’ It’s a matter of ‘Can we save the town of Ralston?’”

Ralston Arena is home to the junior hockey league Omaha Lancers and indoor football team the Omaha Beef. It also housed the University of Nebraska’s Omaha Mavericks basketball team through the end of the 2014–15 season, but the team will move to the school’s new Baxter Arena for the 2015–16 season.

The tenants don’t appear to be generating enough traffic to meet sales tax projections, with the city reportedly expecting an almost $800,000 deficit – about 7 percent of the city’s operating budget – for 2016.

Ralston Mayor Don Groesser told the World-Herald he’s proposed a number of measures to help cover costs next year including raising property taxes, implementing a restaurant tax, raising prices at the venue and charging for parking.

Groesser even reached out to the city of Omaha to ask if it would consider closing an ice rink so skaters would instead visit the Ralston Arena. The city declined his proposal.

He said he plans to ask state lawmakers to extend the area of the sales tax plan to capture more money from businesses but if the idea is panned, “then we’ll have to stay pretty austere in our spending,” the paper reported.

Douglas County officials interviewed by the World-Herald said the arena, which provides a public service just like a library or park, is in a tough spot shouldn’t be judged only on the money it makes.

“I do hope people realize that these facilities are not built to make a profit,” board member Mike Boyle said, adding “the people of the community voted ‘yes’ to build it, and I think there’s enough pride in the community there that they’ll come together and weather this storm.”