{"id":117967,"date":"2014-09-01T21:18:56","date_gmt":"2014-09-02T03:18:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/overruns-zero-out-fairs-bank-account\/"},"modified":"2014-09-01T21:18:56","modified_gmt":"2014-09-02T03:18:56","slug":"overruns-zero-out-fairs-bank-account","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/overruns-zero-out-fairs-bank-account\/","title":{"rendered":"Overruns zero out fair\u2019s bank account"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"King\"
King<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Cost overruns and lack of financial oversight caused this year\u2019s Montezuma County Fair to go $7,500 over budget, zeroing out its bank account.<\/p>\n

Management problems and financial missteps by the fair board were revealed during a marathon presentation to the Montezuma County commission Monday.<\/p>\n

Ironically, participation was up at this year\u2019s fair, attracting 7,200 visitors compared with 4,500 last year. But bad luck, unexpected expenses, and poor turnout for paid events turned it into a financial crisis.<\/p>\n

Dissension among board members had led to resignations and finger-pointing, much of it centered on the Cowboy Gathering of the Four Corners, organized by fair board president Todd King.<\/p>\n

The fair\u2019s first showcase music event was supposed to kick the fair up a notch by broadening its appeal beyond 4-H agriculture events. The Western music festival featured seven bands, including national acts by performers 3 Trails Knight and Krystin Harris.<\/p>\n

The fair board budgeted $6,000 for the event, said fair board member Jay Lawrence, but when the final bill came in, it was a shock. He blamed King, the concert promoter, for spending an additional $6,000 for concert lighting and sound, without fair board approval.<\/p>\n

\u201c(King) went over budget considerably without board input,\u201d Lawrence said. \u201cWe did not agree to pay more than the $6,000, and I feel the promoter should be responsible.\u201d<\/p>\n

King responded that he believed $4,000 for sound and lighting was approved by the board, \u201cbut it is not in the minutes\u201d of the meeting.<\/p>\n

He explained that a volunteer who agreed to conduct lighting and sound on a smaller daytime stage for the performers did not show up. King said his solution added to the total expenses.<\/p>\n

\u201cI asked the sound guy hired for the concert to do it, and he charged me $2,000, so that put me over budget,\u201d King said. \u201cIt was a new event that had community support, but it did not turn out as we had hoped.\u201d<\/p>\n

King admitted he made a mistake on booking 3 Trails West, a national act, and the most expensive. The six-member band required air-fare that cost $2,000 in addition to its regular fee, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was my error,\u201d King said. \u201cI thought their proposal for $6,000 included airline costs, but it was that amount plus airline costs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Local sponsors for the Cowboy Gathering contributed $7,000 toward the music event, he said. The money went toward paying musicians, but ticket sales were low, compounding the problem.<\/p>\n

King has since paid the fair board $526 to help cover the overages, said fair board treasurer Brandee Simmons.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t feel his (cost overruns) were intentional or for personal gain, but I don\u2019t feel he went about it in the right way,\u201d Simmons said.<\/p>\n

Fair account hits zero<\/p>\n

The commissioners were dismayed at the financial quagmire.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt sounds like you need a primer course in contractual commitments,\u201d said commissioner Keenan Ertel. \u201cI have difficulty believing that the $4,000 was approved, but no board member has a recollection of that, and it\u2019s not in the minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commissioner Steve Chappell added, \u201cYou would think that financials at this level would be discussed thoroughly. This turned into financial quicksand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other aspects of this year\u2019s fair also didn\u2019t pan out well. Fair organizers said the water park was a bust, and the traditional Chuck Wagon Dinner didn\u2019t do as well as hoped.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe water park contract was over the phone and did not include what we were expecting,\u201d Lawrence said. \u201cThe dinner did not serve as many plates as last year. The timing was bad, and people felt $15 was expensive.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the positive side, the demolition derby, gymkhana, and the Colt Start Challenge did well.<\/p>\n

The commissioners chipped in $17,000 toward the fair this year, $5,000 more than last year. The additional amount was to try and host different events to attract a more diverse crowd.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe took a chance on trying to expand the fair, and it did not work out,\u201d Simmons said, adding, \u201cWe are all volunteers on this board and work hard to put on a safe and fun fair for the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The county fair bank account is down to zero as a result of the additional expenses, Simmons said, and the county had to pay outstanding bills totaling $1,100.<\/p>\n

After the 2013 county fair, the board had $10,000 to put toward this year\u2019s fair, Simmons said.<\/p>\n

The fair board recently purchased a concession stand for $4,500, which will be put up for sale to try and recoup losses.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been directed by the county to sell off our assets to make up for the cost overruns. We have a lot of fundraising to do for next year\u2019s fair,\u201d Simmons said.<\/p>\n

Kathy Marler and Shawn Treiner, have resigned from the fair board, and two terms are up, leaving four open seats on the nine-member board.<\/p>\n

When King was asked at the meeting if he would stay on the board, he said \u201cvery likely no.\u201d<\/p>\n

jmimiaga@cortezjournal.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Expenses for music event, management blamed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":117968,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[13],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-117967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-frontpage-lead"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117967"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=117967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}