Staff: Coachmen Park amphitheater could cost Clearwater about $2.1M–$2.4M a year; council seeks more local data

At a special Clearwater City Council work session (date not specified), staff presented an operational revenue-and-expense model for the proposed Coachmen Park amphitheater showing estimated annual net costs to the city of approximately $2,400,000 under a minimal-utilization scenario, $2,300,000 under a conservative scenario and $2,100,000 under an aggressive scenario, Jay Raven, finance director, told the council.

The numbers matter because the amphitheater plan will be built as part of the broader Imagine Clearwater project and will change the city's ongoing operating budget and staffing needs. "One of the reasons we're here primarily is we're getting very quickly towards construction. So, once we get that started, we'll be, we'll be all in," Michael Delk, assistant city manager, told council members, framing the presentation as preparation for incorporating amphitheater costs into future budgets.

Raven said the three modeled scenarios reflect different annual activity levels. The consultant model defined minimal, conservative and aggressive utilization by total use days; the model attempted to include public safety, debt service and an annual set-aside for capital repairs. Raven said the city's current annual support for events at Coachmen Park is about $500,000 and that…