Austin presented its case to the state Monday for two projects, the Paramount Theatre and Riverside Arena.

Tuesday, February 22, 2000

Austin presented its case to the state Monday for two projects, the Paramount Theatre and Riverside Arena. City officials hope both will be included in state’s 2000 bonding bill.

Mayor Bonnie Rietz said the most difficult – and most telling – question was posed by the chairman of the House Jobs and Economic Development committee, Rep. Dan McElroy of Burnsville.

McElroy asked the mayor which project she would consider the most important.

"Both are very important to Austin," Rietz said, "but if I had to put a No. 1 and 2, I would put the Paramount Theatre first." Rietz said much of her decision was based on advice from Rep. Rob Leighton (DFL-Austin).

The city is asking the state for the maximum, 50 percent of each project’s estimated cost. For Riverside Arena, half is $919,000 and half the estimated cost for the Paramount Theatre is $550,000. The city has to match the state’s contribution.

"We’ve got an uphill climb ahead of us," Leighton said from his office Monday afternoon, explaining that there are roughly $1.6 billion in bond requests statewide and the governor proposes funding about one-fourth of those. "I think the Paramount has a better chance of getting funding for several reasons, one of the prime ones being a push for many millions to renovate the Guthrie Theatre. If you’re going to fund the Guthrie to the tune of something like $25 million, you’d better look to outstate Minnesota arts, too."

Rietz added that she understood from Leighton that there were many requests for arena-type activities centers, but the Paramount is only one of four atmospheric theaters in the state.

The hearings Monday were just the first step in the process. Members of the House committee will rank the projects after the hearings are finished. The top 10 of those rankings will be passed along to the House Bonding Committee, which reviews all the requests for this year’s bonding bill.

Rietz said the case for the Paramount would be heard by a Senate committee on Wednesday this week; she was unsure of the Senate schedule for the Riverland Arena case.