As always Celebrate Oxford was a swell party for residents and visitors alike, but in the end, it resulted in a loss of $5,719 for the Downtown Development Authority (DDA).
That’s according to the final report submitted last week to the DDA board.
‘I feel confident that we will be able to raise the necessary funds before the end of this fiscal year (June 30, 2013) to cover this amount, however, as it stands today, we do have this deficit,? wrote DDA Director Madonna Van Fossen in a memo to the board.
She believes this can be accomplished through further solicitation of sponsorship dollars and various fund-raising ideas currently being discussed.
For example, American Aggregates, which is owned by the Levy Co., contributed $2,000 to the DDA after the event, so Van Fossen applied $1,000 of it, according to the report, to help cover the Celebrate Oxford deficit, lowering it to $5,719.
This year’s three-day event cost a grand total of $18,904, but it only generated $9,100 in sponsorships and $4,085 in vendor revenue for a total income of $13,185.
Van Fossen took responsibility for the two largest cost overruns, which totalled $1,700 and were related to the Kidz Town activity/entertainment area that was in downtown’s northwest quadrant.
The first had to do with a stage rented for live entertainment. It cost $1,000.
Van Fossen indicated she had planned to rent one from Oakland County for only $300. She told the DDA board she spoke with the county, but there was a ‘miscommunication? and no reservation was placed.
The second overrun was associated with rented activities such as the bounce houses, all of which cost a total of $5,750.
Van Fossen reported these activities cost $1,000 more than originally anticipated due to a ‘typographical error? in the contract.
The contract stated the rental period was for 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 4. However, Kidz Town was open until 7 p.m., so in order to keep everything for an additional two hours, the DDA had to pay another $1,000.
Van Fossen noted the company was originally going to charge an additional $1,700, but she negotiated for a lower price.