Early payoff of debt on existing Monroe Convention Center to be mulled by CVC
The expansion of the current Monroe Convention Center at 3rd Street and College Avenue could take another small step forward early this week.
At its noon meeting on Monday, the Monroe County convention and visitors commission (CVC) could vote to pay off the existing $917,844.77 worth of debt on the convention center building.
That would clear the way for a cleaner transfer of the property from the existing owner, which is legally, the Monroe County Convention Center Building Corporation. That’s a nonprofit with a board of directors, which through the end of 2023 consisted of Jerry Neely, Joyce Poling, Cindy Kinnarney, and Thom Simmons.
A transfer of the property is in the works because of the wording in an interlocal agreement between the city and county governments that governs how the Monroe County capital improvement board (CIB) operates. The CIB is overseeing the convention center expansion project.
The nearly $1 million worth of existing debt stems from renovations to the building in 2010 and acquisition of surrounding land. The Herald-Times coverage at the time described the land acquisition like this: “The southern property comprises land occupied by Sole Sensations, The Furniture Exchange and Second Street Antique Mall, and the eastern parcel includes the cleared former site of Bloomington Tire.”
At the time, the cost of the property purchases and the renovations were reported at $6.8 million by the H-T.
The idea of paying off the debt early was floated four years ago, when CVC president Mike Campbell brought up paying off the balance of the loan at the CVC’s November 2020 meeting.
At that time it was projected that by April 2021, the remaining balance would be $2.8 million for the debt that was incurred for acquisition of land around the center and renovations to the existing building.
Campbell had told the county council during September 2020 budget hearings that April 2021 would be a significant milestone, because at that point the principal could be paid back with no penalty. That would have saved about $275,000 in interest, according to Campbell’s statement at the time, which he called “not insubstantial at all.”
More recently, at the CVC’s September meeting this year, Campbell said that there would be sufficient money in the CVC’s general fund to pay off the debt. No action was recommended in September, pending whatever moves the Monroe County capital improvement board (CIB) might make.
To pay the debt out of the CVC’s general fund would need an additional appropriation from the county council, which would show up as an agenda item for the county’s fiscal body before year’s end.
Based on remarks from CIB controller Jeff Underwood meeting at last Wednesday’s meeting, the CIB is looking for approval of the bond issuance, by the Bloomington city council, for construction of the convention center expansion, by late January or early February 2025. That timing would mean having funds available from those bonds by April.
The various property transfers associated with the convention center expansion are expected to get some discussion at the Monday noon meeting of the CVC.
Also expected to get at least a mention is the revenue report for the last couple months from the innkeeper’s tax. The year-to-date numbers are a smidgen better this year than last year: $3,370,630.10 in 2024 compared to $3,357,033.68 in 2023. But at less than a half percent increase, that’s basically flat.
After recovering, following the COVID-19 pandemic to higher than pre-pandemic levels, inflation-adjusted numbers for innkeeper’s tax revenue have been pretty flat for about two years.
Here’s a link: CVC meeting access information.
