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WILKES-BARRE — Sound management at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza will result in a surplus this year and keep the rise in an insurance premium to a minimum, board members were told Wednesday at a public meeting.

Brian Sipe, general manager of the SMG-managed arena, said the finances are trending toward the positive. Sipe informed the board members of the Luzerne County Convention Center Authority which operates the facility that it will show a “surplus north of $300,000 operationally this year.”

The authority budgeted just over $202,000 in net income from operations in 2016. The figure does not include revenues raised through the hotel tax that are dedicated to pay the debt service on approximately $22 million in bonds issued to construct the arena that opened in 1999.

Insurance premiums for a policy providing umbrella coverage will increase, but it will be less than 0.5 percent, said Ed Miller of Eastern Insurance. He said it’s “mainly due to the fact to how well this is run.”

The one-year policy through Chubb will be $126,925 compared to $126,371 for this year, Miller said.

The cost for professional liability coverage, however, rose due to a claim, explained Joe Joyce of the Joyce Insurance Group. The premium for the directors and officers insurance and employment practices liability, both issued through State National, will increase to $9,950 from $8,531, Joyce said.

The board approved awarding contracts to the insurance vendors. It also gave the go ahead to hire NEPA Engineering as project director for the replacement of the ice rink and to prepare a request for proposals for the work to be done next year.

Angelo Answini, chairman of the capital improvements and strategic planning committee, urged the board not to delay the project because the rink is home ice for the arena’s anchor tenant, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins hockey team.

“We don’t want to left behind without getting all the work upfront done,” Answini said, stressing the project has tight deadline in order to be completed for the start of the 2017-2018 hockey season.

Steve Poremba, director of sales and marketing for the arena, gave an update on the progress of the “club pub” project underway. It should be completed next month and ready for the upcoming hockey season. The pub will be open exclusively to club seat holders and include restrooms solely for their use.

Approximately 60 percent of the 624 club seats have been sold for the season, Poremba said. Package deals also are available for the seats, he said, adding for more information contact the arena at 570 970-3506. Negotiations are underway to secure a presenting sponsorship for the club pub, Poremba said.

By Jerry Lynott

[email protected]

Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLJerryLynott