Story County Fair Board requests an additional $55,000 in budget work session

Story County Fair Board representatives asked the Story County Board of Supervisors on Feb. 5 for an additional $55,000 in county support for the fair, saying that when combined with rental revenue the total county contribution would be roughly $62,000, the fair's representatives said.

John, the Story County Fair operations manager, told supervisors that the fair completed painting and roof repairs on multiple buildings last year and added a handicap-accessible restroom and a new fair office this year. "We did the painting and the repairs to the roof of many of the buildings on the fairgrounds," John said, adding that the new office and restroom "was a huge improvement and brought a lot of value to those who visit our fair in our community." He said the board is pausing some planned projects to focus on higher-priority work.

Derek Black, president of the Story County Fair Board, and other fair representatives described finances as “close to what we budgeted previously” but noted a decline in rental revenue at the community building. Derek said the board hired an additional staff member to manage bookings to give Amanda more capacity to focus on fair programming and that the new hire "has worked well" and produced a stronger start for the current year. Dave Moody, vice president of the fair board, said a recent website change reduced out-of-town traffic and that the board is having a new site developed to improve search visibility.

During the session a supervisor asked whether the $55,000 request was separate from the county’s usual rental support; a fair representative said the $55,000 is the funding amount the board is requesting and that rental income would make up the balance. The transcript records several numerical references with inconsistent formatting (for example, figures shown as "61.05" and "54.05" in different places); fair board representatives described a combined total near $62,000 if the county adds about $500 to prior support. The county did not take a vote or make a formal funding decision during the work session.

The request was presented during a budget work session; no formal motion or vote on the funding request was recorded in the meeting transcript. Supervisors asked clarifying questions about the rental income and historical funding levels but did not take action before the session closed.