Last modified: Thursday, November 20, 2008 1:55 AM EST Workers on Tuesday build a rock wall to support Commerce Way at the Tiffany Street side of the new industrial park in Attleboro. (Staff file photo by Tom Maguire) ARA, proposed business park insolvent BY JIM HAND SUN CHRONICLE STAFF ATTLEBORO - A special task force has found that the Attleboro Redevelopment Authority and its planned industrial business park are insolvent and the city should not invest any more money in the park. A report approved unanimously by the mayoral task force Wednesday states that the redevelopment authority has been insolvent since spring of last year and its problems have greatly increased since then because of an adverse court settlement and a lost court case over land acquisition. The ARA has liabilities of $7.1 million and assets of $2.9 million, "thereby leaving it in an approximate $4.2 million operating deficit position," the report states. On the industrial business park, called the IBP, the authority owes Bristol County Savings Bank $2.1 million, the Anderson family $1.15 million for a land taking, and consultants and lawyers $334,000, the committee found. "It is the committee's findings that both the IBP and ARA are insolvent," the report states. "It is the committee's further finding that no reasonably prudent sum of money contributed by the city would eliminate this insolvency. It would take a capital infusion of approximately $3.6 million, by the city, to pay the current obligations of the ARA to Bristol County Savings Bank, the Anderson family and other unpaid expenses detailed above. "If the city were to borrow money through bonds to bail out the ARA, it would not be possible to repay those bonds with revenue generated by land sales. The committee finds that no future phases of the IBP will produce enough revenue to make either the ARA or the IBP financially solvent." The task force was made up of attorney Robert Mangiaratti, attorney Jack Jacobi, Sturdy Memorial Hospital CEO Linda Shyavitz, accountant James Castro and Christopher Romano, an executive for a construction company. It was appointed by Mayor Kevin Dumas to investigate the industrial park problems and recommend whether the city should contribute more money toward the project. The authority has asked the city for $400,000 to help pay for a roadway within the park. The report states that the project is almost entirely dependent on grant money. When conditions changed, driving up the cost of the park and driving down the potential revenue it would generate, the authority had no other plan to fund the project. The committee found that the redevelopment authority had the best of intentions but questioned how it and its Executive Director Michael Milanoski managed the project. "The committee concludes that the ARA board and its managers did not adequately plan for reasonable foreseeable contingencies. They also had unreasonably optimistic expectations about lot sales and other sources of revenue. "Mr. Milanoski informed the committee that he has known for several years that construction of all phases of the IBP could not be accomplished with committed grant funds and would require significant infusions of new funds." The committee recommends that the city reconsider whether it wants the ARA to manage other redevelopment projects. The authority told the committee that it originally thought it could generate $8 million to $12 million by selling lots within the park. However, unfavorable site conditions at the park off Tiffany and County streets have reduced the potential income to $3.7 million, and that is over 20 to 30 years. The authority has no prospects for tenants at this point. While potential revenue was souring, costs were climbing. The authority had to pay one group of landowners $1.9 million after they challenged in court the price the authority offered to pay under eminent domain. The authority then lost another lawsuit to the Anderson family over land for $1.1 million. Four other land owners are suing the authority and a remaining parcel the authority needs to acquire would cost about $900,000. The authority has spent $13 million of the $15 million in grants allocated to the park and the remaining $2 million is earmarked for a roadway within the site.