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By John Doherty
Staff writer
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Two agencies to stay in charge after town board agrees to make up shortfall

Cicero Commons officials, who last month defaulted on a $15.5 million ice rink and recreation center, will remain in charge of the center and the development of a surrounding community campus.

The Cicero Town Board's decision last week to make up a $250,000 bond payment shortfall put the Commons project back in the hands of the two agencies overseeing the campus, the Cicero Local Development Corp. and the Greater Cicero Local Development Corp., said Commons lawyer Paul Reichel.

"They're still in charge and still working on things," Reichel said. "It was a very positive development when the town made the payment. I expect now that the facility (recreation center) will remain open as a result of that."

At their Nov. 24 meeting Cicero councilors voted 5-0 to pay $246,929.52 after the town's lawyers told them the town, under the terms of a 2001 financial arrangement, was legally obligated to make up the shortfall left when the ice rink operator, the Cicero Local Development Corp., defaulted on a Nov. 3 bond payment.

Because the town board failed to come to the aid of the Commons sooner and avoid the default, Moody's Investors Services downgraded the town's bond rating from an upper-quality A3 rating to a speculative-quality Ba2 rating.

A bond rating is used to help determine how much interest the town pays for long-term borrowing. The rating does not affect short-term borrowing.

Moody's also downgraded the Cicero Local Development Corp.'s bond rating to a Caa1 rating, two steps above Moody's lowest C rating.

"The bondholders, through their representatives, have made it clear that they do not intend to close this," Reichel said. "It's going to remain open, and people should remain comfortable in booking events or leagues. The bondholders have said it's not in their best interest for it to close."

Commons officials are working with the bondholders' representatives on the future of the campus, Reichel said.

"It's non-adversarial," Reichel said. "We are looking at how we can work together to make this work. We're continuing to work with the bondholders to work through this."

After last month's default, the bondholders' trustee, the Bank of New York, hired Grisanti, Galef & Goldress, an Atlanta-based corporate and financial consulting firm, to assess Commons' assets and financial condition.

"There's a cooperative effort between the bondholders, the CLDC, the GCLDC and the town of Cicero," said Lee Katz of Grisanti, Galef & Goldress.

The project, along Route 11 between Cicero Four Corners and Brewerton, was proposed in 1998 by former Assemblyman Michael Bragman. The proposal called for a mix of private-sector and public buildings to serve as a central gathering place for residents of the town.

Latest plans included the construction of 100 homes and housing for senior citizens on land adjoining the recreation center site.

After the default, the future of that part of the Commons project was uncertain because the land was used as collateral to obtain the recreation center bonds.

"That's all still moving forward," Reichel said. "We haven't resumed work on it, but it's all still in the plan."

Katz agreed that development of the campus can continue.

"There's no reason it can't. It should be business as usual," Katz said. "Because of the new cooperative effort of all parties, the project needs to proceed as originally designed."

The next bond payment is due May 1. To date, Commons officials have used mostly money from a reserve account to make three bond payments. But that reserve account has been depleted.

No money to assist with the bond payments has been allocated in the town's 2004 budget, and several councilors, including Supervisor-elect Chester Dudzinski, have said the town will not come to the aid of the campus again.

"I don't have a problem trying to work out their problems. I've got all the time in the world," Dudzinski said. "But when it comes down to giving them more money, that's not going to happen."

Although it is on the Commons site, the Cicero branch of the Northern Onondaga Public Library owns its own building and land and is not affected by the Commons' financial troubles.

© 2003 The Post-Standard. Used with permission