The onus is on the City of Wenatchee to avoid a bank default on the Town Toyota Center. That was the concensus opinion shared by officials representing the Public Facilities District at a meeting Friday. Facing a December first deadline to refinance the arena's 42 million dollar loan officials with the nine PFD jurisdictions are scrambling for answers. Its now evident that there's not enough time for all nine jurisdictions to come up with a plan to finance the short-term note when it falls due in 60 days. The City of Wenatchee is on the hook as the guarantor on the existing short-term note. But a judges ruling prevents the city from exceeding its debt limit on the bonds the PFD wants to issue in December which increases the chances of the loan going into default. Rock Island Mayor, Rusty Clark echoed Douglas County Commissioner Ken Stanton's sentiments saying his City Council didn't sign on as a PFD partner if it meant digging into taxpayers' pockets. State Senator Linda Evans-Parlette organized Friday's meeting to bring together, for the first time, all of the PFD member municipalities in one setting to discuss the looming debt crisis. She brought with her Deputy State Treasurer Wolfgang Opitz who compared the situation to the Apollo 13 story when a crew of astronauts were forced to fix their spacecraft while their air supply was running out. Among the options offered at the meeting include using arena revenues to pay down the debt while having the City of Wenatchee assume the cost of operating the arena. The other option being explored by the PFD is to seek an extension of the current short-term interest only note from the current bond holders. No decisions were made at Friday's meeting.
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