Peoria Civic Center

Civic Center continues to see losses

62 Comments

One of the items on the City Council’s agenda for Tuesday is adopting the Peoria Civic Center’s FY2011 budget. This document also shows the Civic Center’s FY2010 performance.

You can see some performance graphs of FY2001 through 2009 in this previous post. The FY2010 numbers continue the downward trend. The Civic Center had 518 event days, a drop of 10% from 2009 and the lowest number since FY2006. Their operating loss before depreciation is $97,015; their total net loss is $4,768,927.

Things are looking bleaker in 2011. The Civic Center Authority expects only 491 event days in the next fiscal year, and are taking several cost-cutting measures to mitigate their anticipated losses. Of particular note, they state, “Convention center business is projected to decrease in FY11 with a further reduction in FY12.” The exhibit halls/convention space was the portion of the Civic Center that was increased the most in the recent $55 million expansion. The consultant who recommended expansion predicted large increases in convention business. Nine full-time positions have been shed through layoffs and attrition over the past two years, and the three top executives are getting no raises or bonuses again this year.

HRA tax revenue is down significantly. In FY2009, the Civic Center’s tax subsidy was $1,446,276; in FY2010 that had dropped to $990,946, a 31.5% decrease. In FY2011, they’re budgeting to receive $950,000 in HRA taxes.

The Civic Center is often cited as an example of success in municipal investment. Civic leaders will refer to current large projects as the “Civic Center project of our day,” sometimes adding, “Can you imagine downtown without the Civic Center?” The implication is that the Civic Center has been wonderfully successful in some way, but I have yet to figure out how. In its 30-year history, it has never been able to make a profit without HRA tax subsidy. It also has not spurred any peripheral development that has been able to sustain itself. The Grille on Fulton, despite its perfect location for capturing Civic Center traffic, could not stay in business, nor could any other restaurant that tried to locate there. Other properties surrounding the Civic Center are vacant; several nearby buildings were razed a few years back to expand parking.

Nevertheless, the City has poured $55 million more into the Civic Center, and is now spending more millions to get an attached hotel built across the street. They keep pursuing the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow that’s promised by our little leprechaun consultants, but only consultants and developers are actually getting the gold. Meanwhile, the City is looking at laying off even more police officers and firefighters, and wondering why they can’t attract more people to move here.

62 thoughts on “Civic Center continues to see losses”

  1. Bleeding red ink… Bradley? Really? You don’t think Bradley has another $78 million sitting around in a trust fund someplace??

    I am sure you read the Lakeview entry… see a trend going on around Peoria?

  2. If Bradley had $78 mil sitting around—which they don’t, by the way– they wouldn’t spend it on a 11,000 seat arena that would bleed red ink. It would be the dumbest expenditure in Bradley history–maybe in the history of university expenditures.

    Charlie, give it up man. You are so far off the reservation here that you may never be found.

  4. sure they do. And the investment return on that money allows Bradley to help keep tuition and room and board down. Now, they could spend a great deal of that and let tuition go up and then have to subsidize a money bleeding arena on top of that. They should spend $127 million for 15 home dates for their men’s team. That would be smart.

    Charlie, you are, again, way off the reservation on this one.

  5. “allows Bradley to help keep tuition and room and board down.”

    ha ha ha ha… do you know what the tuition rates are?

    $25,424

    What is Eureka?

    $18,045

  6. The difference, Charlie, is Bradley offers some type of scholarship to almost every kid. My son was offered a $12,500 scholly though he didn’t go there. Eureka simply nets out their tuition rather than offer scholarships.

    You need to research your opinions more rather than just shooting from the hip.

    You are 0 for 2 on the tuition and arena conversation.

  9. Yeah, very small amounts. Eureka made a move very few schools have made. Netted their tuition down and makes very small scholarship offers. Thhey have received national publicity for simplifying their tuition. The net amount on their website is very close to what you will pay. Almost all other private schools show a large gross amount and then provide large scholarships.

    Bradley and Eureka net are not far apart. That said, Bradley is a much better school than Eureka and I would expect their tuition to be a little higher.

    That said again, I am glad you have gotten away from your arena argument. Good move on your part.

  10. Anon, laugh, you are correct. I am at fault here, but he just sucks me in with such awful arguments. 🙂

    I should be more disciplined.

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