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Parks and recreation: signature events cost city roughly $300,000; stage purchase seen as costly upfront option
Summary
Parks and Recreation staff told council the city spends about $300,000 on four signature events, generates roughly $150,000 in vendor and sponsorship revenue, and that buying a permanent stage with comparable features could cost nearly $200,000 — staff recommended exploring grants and will present a detailed events schedule and cost breakdown.
Tony, a parks and recreation staff member, summarized event costs for the city and said last year's events totaled about $320,000 in expenses (including overtime) while bringing in about $150,000 in vendor and sponsorship revenue.
Tony said average costs vary by event: a regular market-type event runs about $25,000, a signature event about $40,000, and the Tri Tip festival is the most expensive at roughly $70,000. "We had calculated it at about $150,000 revenue back in and about 300 plus what we spend," Tony said, describing a roughly two-to-one expense-to-revenue ratio for large events.
Council members asked whether buying a permanent stage would cut costs. Tony said stage rental is relatively inexpensive (around $500 per event) compared with sound and lighting costs and that a commercial permanent stage with hydraulics could cost nearly $200,000, which staff judges would take many years to pay back without additional revenue or staffing to operate audio/lighting equipment.
Staff said they will bring a dedicated parks-and-rec agenda item in July with a PowerPoint explaining proposed event deletions or additions, per-event costs, sponsorship breakdowns (cash and in-kind) and proposed changes to the events schedule. No policy action was taken at the work study.
