Category Archives: Washington Pavilion

I was quoted in the article today;

Scott Ehrisman, a citizen advocate who attends city meetings and blogs about council discussion and decisions, said that in recent years, he has come around to supporting the subsidy.

However, he said the city should stop spending Capital Improvements Program money on the Pavilion.

 

“I have often called it City Hall’s dirty little secret that really didn’t come to light until the window funding debate,” Ehrisman said.

 

He is leery of the city backing other big projects such as an events center, using the Pavilion as a lesson in what it costs to build and maintain a center.

“The Pavilion teaches us that the city will use these projects as an excuse to raise our retail taxes, which is unfair,” he said. “Once we start charging people extra … to pay for Broadway plays and Elton John concerts, we send a message to the community that the city’s spending priorities are more about entertaining the minority then providing essential infrastructure for the majority.”

Here is the extended version of the quote I emailed, if you are curious;

“Should the Pavilion, at some point, support itself as opposed to getting a subsidy from the city?”

I have come around on supporting a subsidy in recent years. The problem isn’t that the Pavilion receives a subsidy from the entertainment tax it’s that the city also subsidizes the Pavilion through the CIP fund, in turn giving them a double subsidy. For example, the entertainment tax subsidy only is for operational costs, while the CIP subsidy is for building upgrades and maintenance. In essence the Pavilion has been double dipping on subsidies from the inception without the public’s knowledge. I have often called it city hall’s dirty little secret that really didn’t come to light until the window funding debate was brought before the council. I guess I would like to see the Pavilion stop taking CIP funding and only manage from the entertainment tax subsidy. I would also like to see them pay their management for performance instead just automatic pay increases from year to year. I think if the Pavilion got into a ‘money making’ philosophy it would be helpful to their endowment, which benefits us all. A lot needs to change though before that occurs, for instance, they need to start gearing the facility towards working families like having the Science Center, the Visual Arts Center and Cinedome open at night instead of the day. I also think that the conflicts of interest that exists with board members not only looks bad, it can also cost the Pavilion more in what they pay for outside services because a board member may pressure them to use a more expensive service.

“And, as the city looks for new projects, like a new event center, does the 10-year run of the Pavilion with the subsidy still necessary, teach us anything?”

 

It teaches us that the city will use these projects as an excuse to raise our (retail) taxes. Which is unfair. A special tax, like an entertainment tax, should only be used to subsidize the facility. Once we start charging people extra for food and utilities to pay for Broadway plays and Elton John concerts we send a message to the community that the city’s spending priorities are more about entertaining the minority then providing essential infrastructure for the majority. I would support a new event center if the city would guarantee it would ONLY be paid for through a bed and booze tax. I’m afraid though with the city’s track record on the double subsidy to the Pavilion, that the taxpayers of Sioux Falls will have to put forward a significant amount taxes on essential goods and services without their knowledge to fund the facility. And if that’s the case, how is taxing things we need for everyday living so a minority can be entertained good for the quality of life of the majority?

I had the winning silent auction bid on this piece from Arts Night and picked it up today. Not sure how I am going to display it yet. I might just punch a hole in the wall and stick it in there. About the artist below;

Josh Johnson
Delayed Actions
mixed media, 2009

I was born and raised in the lakes region of Minnesota. After high school I attended the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, where I earned my Bachelor of Fine Art degree with a concentration in sculpture. I am currently a Master of Fine Art candidate in sculpture at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln and was previously enrolled in the Master of Fine Art sculpture program at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion.

Recently, my thoughts have been dwelling on things internal. Not vital organs, cellular structures, or even emotions, but things that are difficult to put your finger on for very long. Things like the lump in the pit of your stomach or the itch in your mind that turns sleep into a game. These sensations are far more interesting to me than the circumstances that may create them. With these thoughts in mind, I approach my studio research not intending to give form to these unnamed sensations, only to let them influence my formal considerations. I reference visible forms and blur their identities, causing them to flicker between something recognizable and something unknown.

I also heard from a fellow artist today that she is looking into a possible conflict of interest (again) when it comes to Arts Night. As I posted about last year the Pavilion (supposedly) changed there conflict of interest policy to include Board Members, excluding them from exhibiting or profiting from the Pavilion while they sat on the board. According to the Arts Night brochure, one of the Board of Trustees had a piece of his (boring nature) photography in the exhibit (we can about guess who the knucklehead is). Like I said, she is investigating. Not sure if the policy hasn’t been implemented, if there was a typo in the brochure, or as I suspect the arrogant ***** just doesn’t give a rat’s ass and put a piece in anyway.

We’ll see.

I also see SculptureYawn is going up again this Saturday. As you can see the event will be just as boring as usual;

From turtles, dogs and rabbits, to human forms, whimsical creations and abstract sculptures, there’s a broad variety in this year’s show.

Dogs!? They never have dogs! I can’t wait. My art boner is so huge right now!

I also see the bullshit propaganda knob is turned to full volume;

The nonprofit event uses no tax dollars.

Really? So now the organization is just flat out lying to the public? Not only are TAX DOLLARS used to maintain the sites, and provide mounts, tax dollars are also used for liability insurance and according to SW’s own website;

The City of Sioux Falls contributes $25,000 annually to purchase the People’s Choice Award sculpture and quartzite and concrete pedestals for the sculptures.

No tax dollars are used, except around $50,000 . .  . ahem.

But according to Dave Munson, Eugene Rowenhorst and the LA Times the recession hasn’t hit Sioux Falls yet, so you can’t blame the economy.

Despite the effort, the Pavilion still might see a $216,000 deficit when numbers are finalized in June, said Gary Wood, the Pavilion’s president and chief executive officer, during a report to the City Council this week.

“If the downturn had occurred in June, it would have given us more time to adapt,” Wood said. “When it started occurring in September and October, we didn’t really have time, so we had to take more drastic action.”

No worries Gary, Vernon Brown has got your back (Quen Be De must have not been available for comment).

“He is not asking the city taxpayers to make up the deficit and is making adjustments within his own budget,” Brown said.

Because it’s not like we hand them over a cool $1.3 million of taxpayer dollars every year or do expensive maintenance to the city owned building (cough, cough, million dollar windows, cough cough) that is not in their budget but hidden in the city’s CIP budget.

For 2008, she (finance director) said the negative $216,000 in the operating fund is relative, based on how you look at the numbers.

 

“When you add up all of our funds, like the permanent collection fund, the endowment fund, special project fund and others, we had an increase in net assets last year of $27,000,” Hathaway said. “Everyone wants to focus on our operating fund instead of the big picture of everything we do.”

Because, unlike actual businesses we count toilet paper rolls as assets and substract that from our deficit (really they do).

While the Husby Performing Arts Center’s Great Hall shows usually make money, the Kirby Science and Discovery Center has run a deficit in past years.

‘In past years’? Try every year. I have often said they should close the Science Center, expand the gift shop, get more movies at the Cinedome and rent the space for special events. It has been bleeding since the place has opened – time to dress the wound.

It almost makes you wonder if they want it to lose money every year? Think about it. If the Pavilion started ‘making money’ they wouldn’t have an excuse to come to the city every year and ask for a subsidy.

One tool you WILL NOT see in the Pavilion’s accounting office

It still puzzles me that a place that charges admission (except for Visual arts center) that after ten years, almost $40 million in building fees spent and over $10 million in operating subsidies from the entertainment tax, they can’t AT LEAST breakeven?

The Pavilion lost $216,000 in 2008. Wood gave preliminary figures to the city council Monday and told members the economy drastically affected the Pavilion’s operating budget.

“Starting in September we noticed, as I think we all did in our own budgets, we witnessed a pretty dramatic downturn in activity in business contributions, individual contributions and in patronage,” Wood said.

I would think with a new director and all, you wouldn’t use the same excuse every year (the only thing the Pavilion has been consistent on. And Councilor Jamison thinks we are ‘leaking money’ because we don’t have a new Event Center?! Wait until we build it! We will see lots of leaking.

As a director of another non-profit said to me anonymously a few years ago, “The Pavilion obviously has a budgeting and personnel  expenditure issue.”

Yah Think?!