PUMPKINS/IN THE BALANCE: After fest, bills
Future plans hinge on dollars
By David P. Greisman
Published in The Keene Sentinel: 
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
The fate of next year’s Keene Pumpkin Festival won’t be decided until the books are closed on this year’s event.
This year saw a city record for number of lit jack-o’-lanterns and a considerable turnout. But the economy will be the deciding factor.
The Pumpkin Festival gets some of its funding from the city of Keene. The city of Keene gets some of its funding from the state of New Hampshire.
The state is facing budget woes. Purse strings were already tighter for the city for the 2009-10 fiscal year. The 2010-11 fiscal year could be the same.
In 2008, the city of Keene spent nearly $70,000 on Pumpkin Festival for police officers, firefighters and public works services.
This year, the city cut its contribution to $25,000; the initial proposal would’ve cut that amount to $5,000. Other community events saw drops in funding as well.
Center Stage Cheshire County, the group that organizes the event, has set a fundraising goal of $220,000 for past festivals, receiving about $200,000.
William W. Harris of Center Stage’s board of directors estimated in September that this year, the group would draw $50,000 to $55,000 out of a “rainy day fund” to help cover costs. This, he said, represents a significant percent of the fund’s balance.
But whether Harris’ prediction would hold true when all the bills are tallied, festival coordinator Suzanne L. Woodward said, “I can’t speculate. ... We may be waiting awhile before we really know what’s going on.”
What happens come 2010 — whether Center Stage is forced to make changes to the festival — depends on how much this year’s festival earned for the organization through revenue streams such as merchandise sales and how much was spent on costs such as city staffing, scaffolding for the pumpkins, portable restrooms, trash disposal and post-festival cleanup.
“The way the process works is the bills start coming in; right now we’re counting our money, (seeing) how much we took in, Woodward told The Sentinel on Monday. “Within about 30 days or so, usually, all the bills are in and paid.”
Organizers shaved costs for portable toilets and waste management this year through negotiations with the providing companies, according to Woodward.
While having a rough idea of the total Center Stage owes to the city, she said the bill has not yet come in. “That’s going to be a big one,” she said, in determining the festival’s future.
Members of the Keene City Council’s finance, organization and personnel committee said they, too, were uncertain as to how much the city could contribute come 2010.
“If we had unlimited funds, I would give them as much as they need every year,” said City Councilor Cynthia C. Georgina, finance committee chairwoman. “Unfortunately, whether it’s worth it or not is not the question. The question is: ‘Do we have the money?’ ”
The city’s operating budget for the 2009-10 fiscal year, $47,780,840, is 1.4 percent lower than the budget for the previous fiscal year.
But the amount to be raised from property taxes went up this year, reflecting estimated drops in revenue from motor-vehicle registrations ($300,000), interest on city investments ($400,000) and the cutting of state revenue-sharing previously distributed to communities, which cost the city $1 million.
The city helped pay for this year’s budget by withdrawing more than half-a-million dollars from $6.5 million the city has in surplus funds, doing so because revenue would not cover all of the spending, and using the surplus kept property taxes from rising even higher.
Potentially compounding the situation, the state budget passed earlier this year was partially paid for with $110 million in surplus money from a fund that underwrites malpractice insurance.
That move was ruled unconstitutional in July. The state government has appealed that ruling to the N.H. Supreme Court. The court’s decision is pending.
“Tell me what the state’s going to do, and I’ll tell you what the city will do,” said City Councilor Kendall W. Lane, a finance committee member.
“There are a lot of factors,” Lane said. “If we have to cut the city budget by $1 million, I’m going to be looking long and hard at a whole variety of areas that will be cut.”
Georgina suggested that businesses such as restaurants, hotels and motels that benefit from Pumpkin Festival tourists could contribute to the festival to keep it afloat.
“If a Brattleboro hotel is filled up because of Pumpkin Festival, why don’t they send a donation so that Pumpkin Festival can continue and they’ll be filled up next year as well?” Georgina said.
Woodward says Center Stage has tried, to no avail.
The organization provides free advertising to numerous hotels, motels and bed and breakfasts on its Pumpkin Festival Web site and welcomes their support.
But while actively soliciting those lodging places during the last two festivals, “Every year we get (a total of) about $100 or $200 from that. ... Someone will send us $10. Someone will send us 20.”
Sentinel staff writer Anika Clark contributed to this report.
David Greisman can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1439, or dgreisman@keenesentinel.com
