While plans for the Athens Community Center are moving ahead, city officials are pulling out the calculators and looking for ways to pay for it.

The center, which will be adjacent to the existing recreation center on East State Street, will cost the city more than $6 million for total construction. A majority of the cost will be offset by the increase in the city income tax. Voters approved a .1 percent construction levy and a .05 percent operating levy in 1996.

But at the time of the levy, the city was proposing the cost of the center at about $4 million.

The master plan for the center includes a new recreation center, a common green area and playing fields. The past city council approved a 20-year plan for the center; therefore, it will be completely finished in 20 years as the money becomes available, Mayor Ric Abel said.

With the city ready to begin Phase 1 of construction, it is looking to other sources of revenue to fund the center, said Judy Hutchinson, Athens City auditor.

OU used to allow the community into its main facility, which at the time was Grover Center, but with the completion of the Ping Center, which students automatically pay to use, community use is limited, she said.

"The problem is that OU changed its availability of recreation activities and therefore increased the need for the city to provide more recreation facilities," Hutchinson said.

But now the increase in the city income tax it not going to be enough to pay for the kind of facility the citizens want.

Hutchinson cited an increased amount of people working at the university-owned Ridges, which is not a part of the city, as part of the decrease in the cash flow from the income tax. She also said more OU faculty retiring and being replaced by lower-paid employees could play a part.

"We have to try to predict what's going to happen in the community with businesses and the economic climate," Hutchinson said. "We have to make sure there is sufficient cash flow."

As city auditor, Hutchinson said she has to take a less than optimistic look at the cash flow so the city does not have to go back to the voters and say, "Whoops, we can't pay for this. Can you provide more?"

The city already has borrowed a $375,000 note that was used for architect and engineering costs, Hutchinson said. The money was borrowed because it takes a while to collect all the money coming in from the tax increase. The note was renewed last month because the city did not have quite the cash flow it needed, she said.

Right now the city is looking at its sources of revenue before it can determine how much more money it needs to complete the project, Hutchinson said. Money will come from the income tax receipts, from interest because the center money is put in a special fund that can collect interest and from grants for which the mayor is applying.

Issuing bonds could be another avenue for the city to explore.

Hutchinson said the city will issue bonds to raise capital but it still is looking into how much that will cost because the city has to pay bond council simply to get permission to issue them.

But with the center slated to benefit not only those within the city, Abel is looking to the Athens County Commissioners as a possible funding source.

Athens County Commissioner Gary Seeley said he has had brief discussions with the mayor, but the commissioners have not received a complete proposal as to how much the city would need and for how long.

The county would like to consider helping the city because the center will benefit the entire county, but the hard part is finding the money, Seeley said.

Although going to the county is an option, Abel said, "the first thing we want to do is look at our own resources."

The city also is looking at the additional impacts the annexation of The Ridges into the city of Athens could have as more people are paying income taxes and also the possible development of the former Woolworth's building on Court Street would put more workers in the city, Abel said.

Another factor affecting city revenue is the university.

OU has proposed increasing enrollment by 120 students and adding faculty. "Each student generates money in tuition which is then spent on faculty who spend money in the community," Abel said.

Aside from adding money-generating students, the university is helping with the community center in another way.

Because the center will be built on a floodplain, the city is planning to move dirt from along the riverbank to create a 8-foot elevated pad on which to construct the center, said Philip Enderle, landscape architect at The Collaborative Inc. in Toledo that is overseeing the project.

Crews will begin bringing in the dirt this summer while architects finalize plans for the building, he said. The construction will be bid out and actual construction will begin in spring 1999.

The dirt is coming from land owned by OU and the Hocking Conservancy District. OU has granted the city an easement, which allows the city to use the dirt for the pad of the building.

If the city decides it wants to use the land for permanent recreation use, such as a ball field, or if it decides to widen East State Street, it will have to have formal approval from the OU Board of Trustees, said John Kotowski, OU director of facilities planning.

The Hocking Conservancy District also has had a part in helping with the center's realization. The city will take dirt from its land for use when building the center.

Terry Courtney, conservancy secretary-treasurer, said the conservancy has granted the city a license to use the land and no money is involved.

The primary goal of the conservancy is to monitor flood control and water resource projects, and Courtney said moving this dirt for the center actually would aid in flood control along East State Street.

The conservancy owns about 1,500 acres along the Hocking River, but Courtney said he is not sure how many acres the city will use.

About 30,000 cubic yards of dirt will have to be moved, Enderle said. The transferring of dirt will result in a slope that will be graded. The slope is steep and crews will take the edge off, making it easier for people to walk down to the river.

The gradual decline will be back about 120 feet from the edge of the river, he said, and be graded to a 10-1 slope, which means every 10 feet the ground will be elevated one foot.Estimates for a completion date range from late 1999 to spring of 2000.

In addition to the existing recreation center and the new building, the city will add 20 acres to the existing 33 for tennis courts, a common green area and soccer fields. The area still will be adjacent to the city swimming pool and the farmer's market, Enderle said. Only one unused building will have to be torn down.

The new community center will be 54,000 square feet. It will have a 19,000 square foot room in the center that will house three high school basketball courts, which will be side-by-side, said Bob 1, one of The Collaborative architects working on the project.

A running track will be elevated above the basketball courts. It will be 11 circuits for every mile, he said. Also housed in the center is a 3,000 square foot fitness center, a 2,000 square foot room for aerobics or marshal arts, a 2,000 square foot lobby for check in facilities, a 4,000 square foot meeting room, an area for senior citizens, two rooms for child care and offices for the city's recreation department.

With all the additions and the benefit to the community, city officials are looking for every source of money they can to fund the project.

"I want to give citizens piece of mind while enjoying their leisure activities," Hutchinson said.