📰BIDDEFORD | Somebody Messed Up | 60k and a Story with Two Titles

BIDDEFORD | Somebody Messed Up | 60k and a Story with Two Titles

TITLE 1: CITY MESSES UP BIG

TITLE 2: ICE ARENA MESSES UP BIG

March 18, 2026, Bare with us… we feel the easiest way to accurately paint this picture, is to present it in 4 short, but pointed “parts”. Let’s begin.

Part 1: The Whistleblower

During this past Tuesday’s Finance Committee Meeting, Biddeford’s Finance Director Gerry Matherne, informed committee members that the City has not received payments from the Biddeford Ice Arena (those that lease the space) “for quite a while”.

To be specific, Director Matherne stated, “my deputy has reached out to Michelle at the Ice Arena... We haven't had payments for quite a while. We haven't heard back yet, so our next approach will be a phone call. He [the deputy director] sent him a couple emails… so we're waiting for those funds.”

Following this statement from Director Matherne, there was no further discussion or inquiry regarding these missed payments, and we had questions… So we reached out to better understand.

Part 2: The Follow Up

After connecting with city staff we learned two very important things:

1. When it was stated that, “We haven't had payments for quite a while. We haven't heard back yet [from the ice arena]”... what they actually meant to say was, 

“Because of staff turnover in the Finance Department, there was a lapse in invoicing for the Ice Arena’s monthly payments”.

2. In this particular instance, “quite a while” meant,

The City of Biddeford has not invoiced the ice arena for 12 months.

After learning that the Ice Arena was behind on payments for 12 months, we had one final question  - how much is the arena’s monthly payment? 

According to city staff, per the lease agreement, the leadership at the arena has committed to make monthly payments in the amount of $5,179.82.

For your reference, 5,179 x 12 = 62,148; the arena currently owes the City over $60,000.

With that being said, according to Danica Lamontagne (Assistant to City Manager), in order to remedy this situation, “Our staff has been in conversation with the arena’s board about a plan moving forward, and they are prepared to make two payments per month as we resume invoicing.

Part 3: The Biddeford Ice Arena

This section is really short and simple but something that should be “put on the table”. Although the Biddeford Ice Arena’s leadership did not "receive a monthly invoice”, it is important to note that there is an existing lease as well as a relationship that spans many years prior. With or without the monthly invoice, the commitment of monthly payments to the City is something the arena’s leadership was very aware of. 

For example, if you have rent due and you don’t get a reminder… the rent is still due.

Part 4: Recreation Bond & Funding Requests

The fourth and final part of this “situation” alludes to the previous election. This past November, residents approved a recreation bond in the amount of 6 million dollars. This situation comes to light at a time where the Biddeford Ice Arena is one of many projects being considered to receive funds from said bond.

Ok, that was a lot of information.

Thoughts?