The numbers are turning around at Jim Thorpe Memorial Hall, but not fast enough to keep the borough from having to subsidize the hall's operations.

On Thursday, council approved transferring $25,000 from its sanitation department account to Memorial Hall in order to pay bills.Despite the financial constraints, Jim McHugh, who took over management and chef responsibilities at the hall in September 2013, said the future of the building looks bright."When I took over there were six events booked in the hall and three were weddings," McHugh said. "In 2014, we booked an additional 34 events and increased revenue by 26 percent."Under McHugh, Memorial Hall's net loss was reduced by 40 percent.In 2014, however, the hall still lost $31,000, according to Councilwoman Joanne Klitsch.She said 2015 is the second year Memorial Hall will have had to borrow $25,000."We do have to pay the bills, but I want to make it clear to the taxpayers that the sanitation account is not a slush fund," Klitsch said."The budget at Memorial Hall has to be tightened. If you keep borrowing, the well is going to run dry."Jim Thorpe is fortunate to have a healthy sanitation fund, but Klitsch said that is in part due to the diligence of past council members."If we have a catastrophic event like a puncture in our line that costs $400,000, I'm not going to the taxpayers to ask for that money," she said.McHugh said 17 events are already booked for 2015, with one wedding and three pending contracts for 2016.Word of mouth is his biggest ally."From one wedding in October 2013, we gained five weddings and a family luncheon," McHugh said.Part of McHugh's contract is that the hall has to pay back the borrowed money at $750 per month to the borough."We're very hopeful that we won't have to ask for a subsidy in the future," he said.Memorial Hall cost $800,000 to build and was dedicated in 1983. The main hall accommodates up to 500 people. When arranged for a wedding with table seating and a dance floor, it can comfortably handle about 350 guests.Councilman John McGuire said running an event hall is a tough business and noted that McHugh has done a great job of trying to get business back to where it was.He took a different approach on whether or not to subsidize the hall."Maybe we should have shut it down 15 years ago," McGuire said. "But whether or not we open or close it, we're paying $40,000 a year on the mortgage."