Given the tough economic times we face I’ve been looking at various ways the council might be able to save some money, one of which has to do with City sponsored events. For example, did you know that in 2008 events such as Fun 4th, the Wyndham, Festival of Lights, A&T Homecoming and several others cost the Greensboro Police Department $546,638 (according to numbers provided by the City) worth of officer time?
In addition, per a “Special Events Budget” memo that I have reviewed (per my request) it appears that other departments (Transportation, Parks & Recreation and Field Operations) valued their part in these events at $60,065.
That means the City of Greensboro donated just over $600,000 to City Sponsored events in 2008.
Various events, such as the Wyndham, have a sizeable economic impact on Greensboro and by no means should we simply shun those events and make them immediately pony up 100% of the funds for things such as police services. But, what if something was worked out so the City didn’t donate 100% of the services? Again, we are in tough economic times and are forced to ask questions and make decisions that aren’t necessarily ideal. At a minimum, items of this nature should at least be discussed.
From a professional standpoint I know that many businesses have been forced to cut their charitable giving budget (some have been completely wiped out) and I for one think the City should potentially consider trying t recoup some of these costs.
[The figures used for this post are associated with nine sponsored events that the City of Greensboro recognized in 2008. These numbers do not reflect the cost of having officers close down intersections for events such as a 5k race.]
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