CAMDEN, Maine — A warm winter with a scarcity of snow has led to a significant financial deficit at the Camden Snow Bowl.
The Select Board is scheduled to meet Tuesday evening at 6:30 to discuss the deficit and try to come up with a way to pay off the debt, which is more than $100,000.
The exact amount of the deficit has not been determined, according to Landon Fake, the town’s parks and recreation director, but he said it was safe to say that for the 2015-2016 season it was in excess of $100,000. He said more information will be available Tuesday in time for the board meeting.
The recreational area also had a deficit of about $80,000 from the 2014-2015 season, he said.
Select Board member Leonard Lookner said he estimates the deficit last year at more than $260,000.
The warm winter with its lack of snow was the reason for the loss in revenue this past season, Fake said Monday. The recreational area was open for skiing for only 42 days in the 2015-2016 season, compared to an average of 68 days in the prior eight years. The best year was 2007-2008, when the resort was open for 82 days of skiing.
A prime example of the weather’s impact was during the first weekend of February, when the U.S. National Toboggan Championships at the Snow Bowl were shortened by a day because of temperatures near 50 degrees. Organizers also could not use the toboggan chute for races because the ice thickness on Hosmer Pond, where toboggans end up after coming down the chute, was considered unsafe.
Fake said he was going to leave it up to the Select Board to decide how to pay the deficit.
The short season in 2015-2016 followed a difficult 2014-2015 season which was shortened by the late completion of a major modernization project at the Snow Bowl.
That project ran into problems from the start, with cost overruns reaching $1.9 million.
The overruns began when a forester came in and cut more trees than had been planned, leading to mud running off the mountain and into Hosmer Pond, according to town officials. That forestry work directly led to $500,000 in unplanned expenses, they said. Trail construction, stormwater management and lighting also all cost more than projected.
Construction of a new lodge has been held off until private fundraising can pay for it. The estimate on the cost of the lodge in early 2015 was $2.4 million.