LEWISTON – After a late-night debate while a city landmark burned a block away, the City Council agreed to loan Androscoggin Bank Colisee $550,000 – $250,000 to pay off debt from last year and the rest to cover a projected shortfall this year.

Mayoral candidate Larry Gilbert told the council calling it a loan was disingenuous.

“We should call it what it is: That we’re having to bail them out,” he said.

The Colisee will have to pay the money back when, and if, it makes a profit, according to City Administrator Jim Bennett.

When someone in the audience said that’s a big if, Bennett agreed, “That’s correct.”

The vote, 6-1 in favor, came at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, as the strong smell of smoke drifted into the chambers.

Funds will come from a $1.1 million city surplus discovered in a recent audit.

When several people stood to ask why that money couldn’t go toward new rain stormwater fees instead of the Colisee, Bennett said that wasn’t the point of the stormwater fee design. No matter how that is paid, homeowners ought to share the cost with nonprofits and large businesses.

The new fee was created to “give single-family homes a break, somewhere in the translation that has been lost,” Bennett said.

Councilor Normand Rousseau said the Colisee had helped shake a “bad aura” the area has had for the last 60 to 70 years.

“It’s no longer talked about as the facility where Sonny Liston came to take a dive, they talk about the Maineiacs,” he said. “We’re trying hard. That facility is brining in more than 200,000 people visiting this year. It brings the community closer together. This is one of the best investments we’ve ever made.”

Councilor Stavros Mendros, the lone dissenter, said he would rather support subsidizing the arena as a private business than have the city own it. As it stands now, there’s the potential for bottomless pockets.

“We are still spending more money every year to have an empty mill No. 5 than we put into the Colisee,” about $450,000, Bennett said, adding the venue’s future success “really depends on who’s touring and whether or not we can get them stopped here.”

He believes Maineiacs attendance numbers, and the amount spent by fans at games, is up. Once they hit an attendance goal, the city gets a bonus, and prospects for that look good.

The city is also starting to see money from Androscoggin Bank, which paid $357,000 over six years for naming rights.

Resident Joseph Roy said he’d like to see the city renegotiate with the Maineiacs for better terms.

“I think it’s kind of foolish to spend good money after no money,” he said. “It’s awful nice to say Lewiston has an arena.” At the same time, “I’d like the Maineiacs to pay their fair share, and they’re not.”