Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Fair Fund Supplemental Request topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Arapahoe County to seek $100,000 transfer from event rental fund to cover 2025 fair shortfall
Summary
County staff told commissioners the 2025 county fair faces a funding gap and will seek a roughly $100,000 transfer from the event rental fund to avoid drawing on the general fund; long-term fixes including ticketing, days and facility upgrades will return in the fall.
Arapahoe County officials told the Board of County Commissioners that the county’s 2025 fair is projected to run short and staff will submit a supplemental request in May asking to transfer roughly $100,000 from the event rental fund to the fair fund.
County staff said the fair operates as an enterprise with an annual budget of about $1 million and that the shortfall stems from higher costs and lower attendance. “We have insufficient funding in the fair fund for 2025, which means we cannot pay the bills for our roughly $1,000,000 fair,” staff member Matt said during the discussion. Director Pinchinot described the briefing as informational and said, “This is just informational for now,” while adding that staff expects to avoid requesting money from the county general fund.
Why it matters: The fair is budgeted and operated as a county enterprise; historically the event rental fund—revenues from weddings, trade shows and other rentals at the fairgrounds—has been used to shore up the fair fund when needed. County staff said using that fund for the shortfall is consistent with long-standing practice and would avoid a general-fund transfer.
Officials gave numbers and mechanics. Staff said last year’s expenditures were about $999,000 against a similar budget and the current revised budget is about $925,000 to $1,000,000. The fair fund opening balance figures cited in the meeting were $23,114 and $26,886, which together staff said create roughly $50,000 toward a targeted contingency. To reach the contingency target, staff proposed transferring roughly $74,000 plus $26,000—about $100,000 total—from the event rental fund.
Staff detailed why costs rose: a roughly $80,000 increase in the carnival vendor contract between 2022 and 2023; higher prices for generators and light towers; increased janitorial and professional-services costs; higher security contract costs; larger fireworks and rodeo expenses; and rising staffing costs. Attendance also has declined from a post‑pandemic peak, reducing gate and vendor revenue, staff said.
County staff said the event rental fund remains the primary near‑term source to cover the shortfall. Staff reported that event rental revenue has been roughly $600,000 a year and netting on the order of $100,000–$200,000 annually in recent years (down from larger surpluses in prior years). Staff also reminded commissioners a prior one‑time transfer of $1.5 million from an administrative source had been approved earlier in the budget cycle.
Longer‑term options: Staff said the requested transfer is a short‑term fix and pledged to return to the board in the fall with structural changes to reduce future shortfalls. Ideas under consideration include revisiting the number of fair days, changing the ticketing model (including whether carnival rides are included or contracted separately), targeted price adjustments, optimizing vendor and entertainment routing, and other revenue and cost controls. Staff said upgrades to the fairgrounds—most notably an HVAC replacement and interior remodel recently completed—are expected to improve rental marketability and could increase event revenue over time.
Facilities and pilots: Staff described a pilot turf replacement on one quadrant of the north turf fields intended to reduce irrigation costs and make the site more resilient after heavy use. They said the county will pursue Colorado Water Conservation Board turf‑replacement grants if the pilot succeeds.
What happened next: Commissioners asked questions about attendance patterns (staff said Fridays and Saturdays are strongest, Sundays are more distributed but still produce 6,000–8,000 attendees on a typical Sunday), possible alternatives to a full carnival and operational tradeoffs for safety equipment such as additional light towers. No formal vote was taken at the meeting; staff said the supplemental request would come to the board formally in May.
The board requested that staff monitor the event rental fund closely and return with a detailed fall plan for fair revenue and expense restructuring.
