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Richland County fair budget shows revenue shortfall; maintenance costs drive expense overrun
Summary
Finance director Liana Pick told the Richland County Fair Committee that 2025 revenues through November totaled about $102,000 versus a $126,000 budget, while expenses ran roughly $12,000 over budget largely due to maintenance costs; the committee asked staff for detailed breakdowns and multi-year planning.
Liana Pick, the county finance director, told the Richland County Fair Committee on Dec. 1 that through November the fair had collected about $102,000 in revenue against a $126,000 budget and faced an expense overrun driven largely by building and grounds maintenance.
"So for 2025 revenue, you brought in a $102,000," Pick said while reviewing the packet distributed to committee members, highlighting line items including about $18,000 in property taxes, roughly $18,000 in carnival income, about $14,000 in grandstand receipts, $9,000 in exhibitor and storage fees and $8,000 in donations.
The shortfall on the top line, Pick said, was roughly $24,000; total expenses were about $156,000 versus a budgeted $144,000, producing a near-term gap. A maintenance line item for buildings and grounds of about $32,800 was singled out as a primary reason expenses exceeded that budget.
Committee members pressed for details on a large November payout and whether some costs shown in 2025 were actually incurred in prior years. Pick said she would pull vendor-level details and review account coding, including the donation fund account (referred to in the packet as Fund 33/30), and report back before the next meeting.
Several members recalled that prior gate receipts yielded $30,000–$40,000 in healthier years and that changes to free admission had reduced that revenue stream. The committee discussed options to close the gap, including modest gate charges (examples discussed ranged from $5 to $10), charging for special grandstand events, year-round facility rentals, and some combination of gate and grandstand fees.
Pick recommended updating capital planning so major maintenance projects can be budgeted over multiple years rather than concentrated in a single fiscal period. She also noted an accounting cleanup: a prepaid item of roughly $2,700 that may need to be charged to the current year and would further affect the year-end balance.
The committee did not take any formal revenue-raising votes at the meeting; members asked staff to prepare a deeper breakdown of maintenance charges, the finalized 2026 budget numbers, and an updated multi-year capital improvement plan to consider at a future meeting.
