BEMIDJI -- The Bemidji City Council is hosting a listening session Monday evening regarding operations at the Sanford Center.
The meeting, to be held in the event facility's conference space, will be an open forum for the public to share their thoughts and concerns about the building, opened in 2010. Additionally, the public will be able to weigh in on possible funding mechanisms for the facility.
The Sanford Center includes an arena with more than 4,000 seats and attached conference space. It serves as the home for the BSU men's and women's hockey programs.
The building is owned by the city and managed by the company VenuWorks, based in Ames, Iowa. To cover net losses at the building, the city makes an annual operating investment worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. For 2020, the investment was $450,000.
In addition to the operating investment, the city also directs funding toward the Sanford Center's maintenance needs. All of this funding is from property taxes.
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On Monday, one of the ideas likely to be brought up is a possible hospitality tax on either restaurants or hotels. The city has backed the concept in the past, arguing that such a tax could collect more outside dollars from visitors to the Sanford Center to fund the building's operations.
The Sanford Center is located at 1111 Event Center Drive NE and the meeting is scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m.
