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Needed For New Year's Eve In Sarasota: $40,000

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Roger Drouin / Sarasota Herald Tribune

Published: November 27, 2007

SARASOTA - Organizers of the downtown New Year's Eve celebration are scrambling for a last-minute plan to collect enough money to pull off the event.

The late-night celebration, which brought 20,000 people downtown last New Year's Eve, will not happen this year unless organizers can quickly raise $40,000.

Ernie Ritz, of the Downtown Sarasota Merchants Alliance, attributes the shortfall in part to a $10,500 charge by the city for police and the post-event cleanup. Another cause is lack of funds collected from merchants who contributed to past events.

At a meeting today, organizers will discuss a last-minute effort to collect money.

"This is the final chance to see if there is a way to save New Year's," said Monica Eshkoli, co-owner of the Freaky Tiki clothing store on Main Street. "As of last Monday it was a done deal. I don't have a lot of hope."

The event cost about $50,000 last year, including the cost of four bands and stage set-up, Ritz said.

The city allocated $2,200 for public works expenses, such as the cleanup, and staffed the event with police officers at no cost to organizers.

But this year, the city is charging for both expenses.

Though a small fraction of the city's $59 million operating budget, events such as the New Year's celebration, the annual July Fourth fireworks display and the Memorial Day parade took a big hit in July as city commissioners looked for ways to trim this fiscal year's budget.

"The fun stuff is the first to get cut out," Deputy City Manager Peter Schneider said, "because core services and our responsibility to public safety has to take priority."

The decision to charge for events reflects a new age of tightened city budgets after property tax reform was approved by the state Legislature.

But some business owners say the $10,500 fee shows that the city is not willing to invest in downtown.

Larry Siegel, owner of the Gator Club, said he understands the city is in a tough position because of state-mandated budget cuts. But Siegel said downtown events, such as New Year's Eve, are worth the investment because they bring thousands of people downtown.

"If the city is using downtown merchants to make a profit, that doesn't make sense," Siegel said.

Last year, after a four-year hiatus, Ritz spearheaded an effort to bring the New Year's event back to downtown.

It went off without a hitch. There were four live bands. Stores that stayed open late cashed in on a long line of customers.

Eshkoli closed her store at 11 p.m., only to open it again to a line of customers, including two vacationers from Canada who wanted to bring a shirt from Sarasota back home.

At midnight, a giant orange dropped.

For this year, students at New College had built a giant pineapple that would light up and drop at midnight. But it might not make it to Main Street and Lemon Avenue, the center of the event.

In August, Schneider sent a letter to organizers for several events in the city to let them know they will have to provide public safety at their own expense, pay a rental fee to use public spaces and pay for a city crew to clean up.

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