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Costs For Public Events In AP To Balloon
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Published: August 25, 2008
AVON PARK - The organizers behind Springtime on the Mall, Avon Park's Christmas parade, the 4th of July festivities and other public events will have to dig much deeper into their pockets to keep the events running.
Executive Director David Greenslade of the Avon Park Chamber of Commerce estimated last week that the chamber will have to scrap up an additional $3,500 to $4,000 to fund the Christmas parade after the city decided that it will no longer provide free police protection and trash collections to any public events.
Last Christmas, the chamber spent $1,000 of its own money to organize it, so Greenslade wasn't sure how the chamber could come up with five times that amount this year.
"We're going to have to raise additional funds," Greenslade said.
At City Manager Sarah Adelt's suggestion, the council decided to stop what it called "in-kind contributions" to such public events in order to cut back on its budget and the amount of overtime paid to police officers. The measure was the latest cut in a series of cuts the city made. By October it will also lay off its city planner and dissolve its entire emergency dispatch.
Greenslade said the chamber could possibly ask for more sponsorship money and community donations, or he could scale back on lighting and other expenses.
The Christmas parade does not raise any money for the chamber, he added. Fundraisers such as Springtime on the Mall would not take the same impact, even though he estimated spending an extra $750 to hire trash collectors for that festival.
"The cost for the mall festival is very minimal," Greenslade said. "The Christmas parade is the big one."
Another major event carrying a bigger price tag will be the 4th of July fireworks display. Wally Randall, a Highlands County School Board member and one of the chief organizers of the annual display from Lake Verona's northern shore, said he will lose $1,500 in police protection as well as the city's $1,000 monetary donation next year. This worried him.
"We barely made our commitment," Randall said, referring to the funds he needed to raise for this year's celebrations.
The annual Martin Luther King Jr. parade in the Southside also uses police escorts.
Doug Carman can be reached at 386-5838 or dcarman@highlandstoday.com
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