Council: No additional city funds for Homecoming

PARKERSBURG -- The Parkersburg Homecoming Festival will receive a $6,000 contribution from the city this year, not including the in-kind services from the Police, Streets and other departments.

That's the lowest amount since the 2010-11 and 2011-12 fiscal years, when no money was allocated for the event. From 2012-13 until 2016-17, the city contributed $10,000 a year. The festival received $6,667 in 2017-18 and no allocation in the initial draft of the 2018-19 budget, because its application was not submitted in time. Council later allotted $12,500 that was used to help pay for the fireworks display.

During the final hearing on the proposed fiscal year 2019-20 budget Monday, an amendment to shift $4,000 from a parks and recreation equipment line item to Homecoming was rejected on a 6-3 vote, with Councilmen Bob Mercer, Eric Barber and J.R. Carpenter supporting it.

Mayor Tom Joyce said he opposed moving money from an equipment line item to any fair or festival. As for Homecoming specifically, he said he based the proposed allocation on the return on the city's investment.

"I don't believe that Homecoming, under its current structure, is worth any more than $6,000 of the city's investment," he said.

"I personally have heard from dozens and dozens of folks in the community who say, 'We need something different than the Parkersburg Homecoming.' It needs to go away," Joyce said.

The festival, which began in 1985, has struggled in recent years with rising costs and the loss of sponsors. After shifting to a two-day format in 2017, it returned to three days last year, with then-new President Mike Cottrell promoting a mixture of new events and old favorites, such as returning the Rubber Duck Derby to the Ohio River.

A number of the proposed events didn't come to fruition, although the ducks, and the fireworks display, were back on the water. Cottrell has said the event was a success, citing strong crowds at the Saturday and Sunday concerts, which featured tribute acts in an effort to save money.

On Tuesday, Cottrell, who attended the budget hearing but did not speak, said he and the board "are very, very disappointed in the city leadership."

He took issue with Councilwoman Sharon Kuhl saying the city provides $50,000 in in-kind contributions for Homecoming.

Last summer, city officials announced the work done by Police, Fire and Public Works employees for both Homecoming and the Half-Marathon were worth an estimated $45,537 in paid time.

"We couldn't do Homecoming without it," Cottrell said of the in-kind services, but added that the costs for the individual events were not separated.

"We would love to have it" so we could work on reducing overhead, he said.

Kuhl said Tuesday that most of the money is for Homecoming, which lasts the entire weekend.

Cottrell also disagreed with Joyce's statement that the Mid-Ohio Valley Multicultural Festival draws "way, way, way bigger crowds" than Homecoming.

"We know what our crowds were. They were in the thousands," Cottrell said.

The mayor referenced the success of that event -- which is budgeted for $5,000 from the city in the current fiscal year and $5,000 next year -- after Barber made a motion to move $1,500 from its line item to Homecoming's.

Carpenter instead suggested moving $4,000 from the capital outlay budget for parks, after council earlier approved amendments reallocating most of the money in that line item.

The city "capitalizes tremendously on additional B&O (business and occupation tax) and on user fees" during Homecoming weekend, he said.

"The revenue coming in is much more than the normal flow, and you cannot discount that in any way, shape or form," said Carpenter, whose restaurant, the Crystal Cafe, is located on Market Street and has its biggest day of the year during Homecoming.

Joyce said the largest draw downtown during the third weekend in August is actually The Parkersburg News and Sentinel Half-Marathon.

"When it comes to Homecoming weekend, that weekend, the race brings people to the community," he said.

Barber argued for more funding for Homecoming, saying cutting the amount would be "putting the final … nails in its coffin."

"That event and what it provides for the community still has some value," he said. "Maybe not for everyone, and there's certainly room for improvement."

Joyce said the intent of the allocation was not to put the nails in the event's coffin.

"Blaming the problems that Homecoming has on the City of Parkersburg I think is unfair and unjust," he said. "The crowds, the revenue, the sponsorship, all that stuff has been going downhill for years."

Longtime Homecoming volunteer Woody Miller said Tuesday that the event's board of directors has done everything they've been asked as far as trying to become more self-sufficient, but the event can't continue without the city's support.

"I think it's a great thing for everyone in the City of Parkersburg, not just the people that can afford to go and do things," he said.