FAYETTEVILLE : Budget cuts threaten to dim lights
Posted on Monday, December 17, 2007
FAYETTEVILLE — The largest lights display in Northwest Arkansas will go dark New Year’s Eve — perhaps for good.
The Fayetteville City Council is expected to approve its 2008 budget on Dec. 27, and the $ 93, 884 Lights of the Ozarks isn’t listed among funded programs.
Fayetteville annually strings nearly 500, 000 lights on the square. The display is lighted the Saturday before Thanksgiving and is turned off New Year’s Eve.
Because of a decline in sales tax revenue, Fayetteville aldermen are looking to use more money next year from the Sales Tax Capital Improvement Fund to pay for daily operating expenses. Thus, city staff is trimming nonessentials from the capital fund because there will be less money in it for 2008.
The $ 29, 000 in equipment and supplies used for Lights of the Ozarks are funded by capital dollars. The $ 64, 884 for labor and utility costs, listed in the general fund parks budget, would be redirected to other programs, Finance Director Paul Becker said.
If the lights are cut, the city will have to find money from another source or do without the display.
“We’re hoping some individuals and merchants on the square will donate, because they benefit from them being up there,” Alderman Adella Gray said.
Gray was adamant that the push to discontinue the lights display came from Becker and city staff, not the City Council, and that the budget has yet to be approved.
“No decisions have been made at all,” Gray said.
The City Council will consider the budget after Mayor Dan Coody returns from France, where he is touting Fayetteville’s eco-friendly policies. Coody’s trip to Paris was funded by the French government, the U. S. Conference of Mayors and from his own pocket, Becker said.
Merchants who do business on the square say the lights are a major attraction for locals as well as those from out of town.
“People come from all over the state and even from out of state,” said Brandon Karn, owner of Jammin Java. “I think we have to have them.”
The Lights of the Ozarks are good for business, too, Karn said. After looking at the display, people come into his shop for hot chocolate and coffee.
“It’s a big deal for us,” he said.
Storm Carr, co-owner of French Quarters Antiques and Feather Your Nest, both on the Fayetteville Square, said the display is a great asset. Carr said, if needed, he would have no problem donating to a lights fund or even providing volunteer labor to install them.
“We need to save the lights, there’s no question,” he said. “At five o’clock when they come on, you can hear people ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ and gasp.”
Karn says it would be difficult for merchants to pay for the lights because there are relatively few merchants on the square. A large entity like Arvest Bank could provide a simple solution to Fayetteville’s problem, he said.
“A big, corporate sponsor would probably be a better option,” Karn said.
Fayetteville’s display dwarfs the Springdale show at Murphy Park, where there are 20 static displays and 187 decorated trees. The Public Works Department budgets $ 25, 000 for the annual display. The lights aren’t expected to be cut from the city’s 2008 budget.
Bentonville, which like Fayetteville boasts a traditional town square, doesn’t have a budget for Christmas lights. Instead, its downtown lights are paid for through private sponsors. This year’s display, for example, was made possible by a large donation from General Electric.
The energy giant handed over more than 50 boxes of lights to Downtown Bentonville Inc., a nonprofit advocate for the square. Employees in the Bentonville Parks Department hang and dismantle the lights, but they aren’t paid extra to do so.
“I believe in fixed-cost manpower,” Bentonville Mayor Bob McCaslin said. “We have no line item for lights. We do not budget a dime for that.”
Main Street Rogers, a branch of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, handles the city’s annual downtown display through donations. The Rogers Street Department provides the labor needed to hang the lights.
“There is no large contributor to the lights display,” said Marge Wolf, president of Main Street Rogers. “It’s a community effort. As the money comes in, we spend it. There is no strict budget for lights.”
Donations can come from a bank, a downtown merchant or from a chili dinner fundraiser hosted at a local church.
“Right now, we pay as we go, and it’s beautiful,” Wolf said.
FEEDBACK:
Something to say about this topic? Submit a Letter to the Editor online
