The Baker Report

Administrative Item
Discussion Item
To: CITY COUNCIL
From: John Baker, Interim City Manager
Date Report Prepared: January 19, 2011
Meeting Date: January 25, 2011
Subject: Ojai Visitors Bureau Year End Report and Funding Request
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Recomendations
1. Receive a presentation from the Ojai Visitors Bureau for the year ending for the year ending December 2010; and
2. Consider funding options for the Visitors Bureau in conjunction with possible seed money funding for the operation of the Libbey Bowl.
Executive Summary
In December 2009 the Ojai Chamber of Commerce made a presentation to the City Council for the development of a marketing program to be operated under the direction of the Ojai Visitors Bureau. Following that presentation, the City Council, acting as the Redevelopment Agency (RDA), voted to provide the Bureau with $160,000 for a marketing program to run the balance of the 2010 calendar year. Subsequent to that decision, the City Council has committed to reconstruction of the Libbey Bowl and will be making a payment of $1.315 million following completion of the construction. The result will be a cash flow problem over the remainder of the calendar year. Without significant reductions in General Fund programs, the City does not have sufficient financial resources to support new funding requests that require the actual outlay of cash.
Discussion
In December 2009 the Ojai Chamber of Commerce came before the City Council and Redevelopment Agency requesting funding for a new marketing program designed to increase tourism in the City of Ojai. After consideration, the Council, acting as the Redevelopment Agency, allocating $160,000 in support for the 2010 calendar year (the appropriation was made despite the fact that the RDA was in a negative cash and budget position). The understanding at the time was that the Bureau would return at the end of the year with a request for a second year of funding.

The Bureau has completed its year of marketing efforts and has prepared a report of its activities for Council consideration (see "Attachment"). The Bureau will be making will be making a formal presentation of the report at the Council meeting. The Bureau is requesting the City to allocate an additional $160,000 for operations in calendar year 2011.
As the City looks forward to its budget for the 2011-12 fiscal year, it is faced with very significant constraints on available funding for activities outside its core services. As noted previously, the RDA is in a deficit position and is projected to remain so until approximately 2015. Therefore, there are no RDA funds available to be allocated to the Bureau. As it has done for the past few years, the City is subsidizing the RDA with General Fund dollars to maintain its commitments (including the allocation to the Bureau last year).
In July the City Council approved the contract for the construction of a new Libbey Bowl. As part of the decision to award the contract, the City was to fund approximately $820,000 of the total cost with the remainder (approximately $3.2 million) coming from pledged donations from Ojai Service Foundation and Ojai Music Festival. Due [to] the fact that the donations were scheduled to be collected over a five-year period, there was a need to for the City to front the money for construction and be reimbursed by the donations over that five-year period. To date $1.64 million in donations have been received. To complete the contract payment upon completion of the construction in June, the City has set aside $1.315 million, exacerbating the cash flow problems. The City's cash position becomes very tight as General Fund revenues do not flow evenly to the City (property tax being the single most important as it is not received until one-half of the fiscal year has expired). The result creates a cash flow problem for the remainder of this fiscal year and the first six months of the next fiscal year. The City does not have sufficient cash to operate. This is the case with the Visitors Bureau funding request. In fact, in order to meet its cash flow needs through November of 2011, the City will need to access a line of credit awaiting revenues to catch up with expenditures at mid year (with the receipt of property taxes).
The budget projections for the remainder of the 2011 fiscal year are extremely tight. If our expenditure and revenue projections hold, we will end the year with a deficit of approximately $125,000 - the same projection that existed with the adoption of the budget last June. The commitment this year to fund the construction of the Libbey Bowl and to have that repaid from the pledged donations over several years will exacerbate the City's cash flow problems. All projections for the coming fiscal year remain very tenuous as we hope for a rebound on the economy. The Council's Finance Committee reviewed our current and projected year end financial status at its meeting on January 18, 2011 and asked that a picture of the cash flow projections be presented as part of the January 25, 2011 agenda item regarding the Visitors Bureau request. A presentation will be prepared for the meeting regarding cash flow as well as information on sales and bed tax receipts for the past year. This information will provide background for decision-making regarding the Visitors Bureau request and any other new funding requests that might be made over the next few months.

Fiscal Impact
If the request from the Ojai Visitors Bureau is honored in any amount, the City Council will have to either: 1) reduce cash flow for exi[s]ting programs over the coming months; or 2) exercise a line of credit prior to the end of the current fiscal year to ensure that cash requirements are addressed (in addition to the line of credit that will be necessary for the first six months of Fiscal Year 2011-12 to cover basic City programs and services).

Attachment:
Ojai Visitors Bureau Year-End Report for Ojai City Council December 2010

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