BRIGHT NIGHTS IN FOREST PARK
FINANCIAL DATA
- The Spirit Of Springfield, the private agency that manages this event on public park land, grosses around a million dollars in revenues, yet they refuse to disclose to the public the details of their finances. We have appealed their denial of public disclosure to the Mass. Supervisor of Public Records and expect a decision within weeks.
- After all expenses are paid, by contract, there is supposed to be a 50/50 sharing of any net profit between the Spirit of Springfield (SOS) and City/Parks Department. This is an essential part of the contract and one of the reasons for initiating the event.
- Early quotes from S.O.S. suggested that capital expenses would be paid off in two or three years after which profit-sharing would begin. Year three ended on January 11, 1998, but this hasn't happened and is not likely to happen in the foreseeable future despite S.O.S.'s rosy promises. Indeed, Judy Matt, S.O.S. president and executive director, is already conceding a significant expense carryover to year four, if the City renews its contract for another 3 years.
- The two annual reports for each year required in the contract with the City of Springfield's Parts department show that expenses for the same item and same period contradict one another. We need to understand better why this is the case. The reports give no detail as to how these costs are arrived at nor why they escalated so swiftly and are at such variance from one report to the next. For example: for year two that ended January 5,1997: Display Maintenance (replacing bad bulbs, electrical, etc.) 1st report 3/20/97 $ 58,292., 2nd report 10/31/97 $103,916. 2nd report 12/01/97 $143,358.
ALL FOR SAME PERIOD, SAME EXPENSE ITEMS.
The report for year one, showed $13,815 for Display Maintenance! Why the differences? These disparate numbers prompted a request for a city audit by the Parks Commission in mid-November and it is still ongoing.
