The ice skating rink at Quiet Waters Park near Annapolis will not open this winter - and probably won't next year either - because Anne Arundel County officials say it would cost too much to fix the apparatus that freezes the pond.
"You can't be laying off ... police and spend $250,000 for coils at an ice rink," county recreation director Dennis M. Callahan said, referring to the 16 police officers who were laid off because of a budget crunch earlier this year.
The rink typically opens after Thanksgiving and remains open until March. About 13,000 tickets were sold for skating last year. It cost $5 for adults and $4 for children.
The rink opened a little more than a decade ago and was closed because of technical problems in the winters of 1994-95 and 1995-96, officials said.
"When the budget improves, our intention is to repair the ice rink," Callahan said. "It's not going to happen this year, and I don't see it happening next year."
