PORT ST. LUCIE — Thousands of festival-goers might not be able to enjoy the next annual Oktoberfest, St. Patrick’s Day Festival, and Art and All That Jazz because of city budget cuts.

The city’s Community Redevelopment Area staff is recommending the City Council cut the $10,000 sponsorship it gives to each festival. Assistant City Manager Greg Oravec, who also serves as the agency’s director, sent letters earlier this month giving the bad news to the organizers.

He said last week he doesn’t know how long the cuts will last, and the festivals will have to raise more money privately.

“The organizers are going to find a way to make it happen,” he said. “If you didn’t have those events, it would negatively impact the vibrancy of the community.”

Usually nearly 2,000 people attend the free Art and All that Jazz, said Joe Holiday, St. Lucie Professional Arts League president. The festival has been held in April for seven years.

“It’s a tradition now,” Holiday said. “It’s something that the people of Port St. Lucie should have because it’s a very happy day.”

The festival featured artists displaying their works and several bands playing live music. Holiday is seeking private sponsorships and reaching out to the public for help.

The redevelopment money has covered the majority of the festival’s cost, Holiday said, with some income coming from contributions from artists for their exhibit space.

“We’re going to find a way,” he said. “We’re not going to give up at all.”

The redevelopment area, which was created eight years ago to include about 2,000 acres along U.S. 1, started sponsoring events in 2003. It relies on the additional tax money raised when property values increase, not the city’s general fund.

Oravec wrote that the redevelopment area’s revenue this budget year is down more than 12 percent from last year, and he expected another 16 percent drop next budget year. He blamed declining property values, the economy and the state legislature’s tax reform efforts.

“Most of the agency’s expenditures are fixed,” wrote Oravec, “and most expenditures which could be cut with less difficulty were cut last year.”

He sent a preliminary draft this month of the redevelopment area’s proposed budget for next year to the city’s Office of Management and Budget. The agency already eliminated overtime and travel last year.

If the city raised the tax rate to bring in the same amount of money it did the previous year, Oravec wrote, the redevelopment area could make about $250,000 in revenue each year.

The City Council will make decisions about next year’s budget at its retreat July 16-17.

The Friendly Sons and Daughters of Ireland club has held the St. Patrick’s Day Festival in March for the past 20 years.

The German American Club of the Treasure Coast has put on Oktoberfest for the past six years. The loss of redevelopment support is more sudden because the event is coming up relatively soon — shortly after the new budget year begins in October.

The other festival organizers couldn’t be reached for comment.

By Laurie K. Blandford

Tags: art, budget, club, communication, cuts, Economy, festival, holiday, holidays, legislature, money, overtime, property, raise, raises, taxes, Tradition, travel, value

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 9:40 am and is filed under Community events, Economy, Escobedo trial, Port St. Lucie. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.