CNN: The complex features a soccer field, a running track and an indoor hockey rink with heated seats. Palin campaigned for a sales tax increase to finance the $14.7 million project, winning approval for the half-cent levy by a margin of 20 votes.
Palin is now the Republican nominee for vice president. Her supporters call the arena the crowning achievement of her 1996-2002 tenure as mayor.
"She really was very, very passionate about this right from the start," Wasilla Recreation Manager Bruce Urban said.
But the city never obtained clear property to the title until this year, after a lengthy court battle with developer Gary Lundgren, who owned part of the land on which the complex sits. Watch more on the controversy »
"When they started building, the title to the land was in my name," said Lundgren, who now lives in Panama.
Diane Woodruff, a City Council member and longtime Palin critic, said that has left Palin's major campaign pitch -- to be a fiscally conservative reformer -- in question.
"She inherited the city with no debt, and suddenly we have a lot of debt," she said. "I don't think that labels her as a true fiscal conservative."
Another Palin note. She's canceled her California appearances.
