{"id":118077,"date":"2014-09-03T17:45:21","date_gmt":"2014-09-03T23:45:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/overruns-zero-out-fairs-bank-account-2\/"},"modified":"2014-09-03T17:45:21","modified_gmt":"2014-09-03T23:45:21","slug":"overruns-zero-out-fairs-bank-account-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/overruns-zero-out-fairs-bank-account-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Overruns zero-out fair’s 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 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 unexpected expenses, and poor turnout for paid events created a crisis.<\/p>\n

Dissension on the board led to resignations and finger-pointing, much of it directed at 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 broaden 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 the bill was a shock. He blamed concert promoter King for spending an additional $6,000 for concert lighting and sound, without board approval.<\/p>\n

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

King said he thought $4,000 for sound and lighting was approved, \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 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.<\/p>\n

King admitted he made a mistake on booking 3 Trails West. The six-member band required airfare 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 for the music event, he said. The money went toward musicians, but ticket sales were low.<\/p>\n

King has since paid the board $526 to help cover the overages, said 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 she 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 said, \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

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.<\/p>\n

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

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

The fair board recently bought a concession stand for $4,500, which will be sold 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,\u201d Simmons said.<\/p>\n

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

When King was asked if he\u2019d stay on the board, he said \u201cvery likely no.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Expenses for music event, management blamed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":118078,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6363],"tags":[188,13],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-118077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ds-news","tag-dolores-star","tag-frontpage-lead"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118077","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=118077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118077"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=118077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}