City pleads empty pockets for 2008 Conejo Valley Days
By Nancy Needham nancy@theacorn.com

As the future of Conejo Valley Days hangs in the balance, organizers are working hard to find sponsors so they do not have to cancel the event.

Their first attempt at getting the city to back the 52-year-old Thousand Oaks tradition with a $100,000 sponsorship was rebuffed by city staffers who said the city did not have the money available to give.

With the projected tightening of financial conditions for Thousand Oaks over the next few years, the city is not sure of its financial situation, Assistant City Manager Linda Pappas Díaz explained.

After talking with city staffers, the CVD group reduced their request to $50,000 for seed money. Then, during the Nov. 27 City Council meeting, Mayor Andy Fox contradicted Díaz and said the city had the money but wasn't sure it wanted to get into the carnival business.

After what was described during the City Council meeting as the grilling of CVD 2008 Chair Marty Campbell, the council voted 5-0 to take $15,000 of the Community Endowment Fund set aside for emergencies and give it to the community event where hundreds of volunteers work to raise money for local charities.

"This was a difficult decision for the City Council," City Manager Scott Mitnick said. He said other groups that were hoping for that money would not now get it. Groups like the CVD organizers who had missed the deadline for the $100,000 Community Endowment Fund were hoping to be considered to get some of the money set aside for emergencies.

In the past the emergency money was used for Little League teams that made it to the World Series, spelling bee champions who needed to go to Washington, D.C., to compete and other unexpected happenings, Andrew Powers, city spokesperson, explained.

Other groups referred to by the mayor during the council meeting as being in line to receive the emergency funds include Newbury Park High School's Every 15 Minutes program to deter students from drinking and driving, and the Thousand Oaks High School booster club. The endowment fund deadline was Oct. 1.

There were also those who met the deadline who were not included in the $85,000 worth of endowment money given by the city, Mitnick said.

Campbell explained that the $15,000 would not cover the cost to reserve a tent for the event, which cost $800,000 to put on last year. Even though attendance was up, the group still fell short of making a profit, she said.

Fox questioned the policies of the CVD organizers and their inability to make a profit.

Campbell explained the family event had made money over the years for charities and local businesses and had served the community well by building a pool for the handicapped and making other important contributions. During the event about 350 special needs children are given a day of their very own at the carnival. Charities make money, for some the only money they make all year, to keep their groups going.

In 2003 CVD was rained out and organizers said they lost $127,000. "We've been treading water ever since," Campbell said.

Since then, rising costs of services, equipment and insurance and stricter county requirements have been hard to keep up with.

Every year the group has done a little better financially. In 2004 it was $60,000 in the red; in 2005 the loss dropped to $30,000, and last year the deficit was about $15,000. These estimates do not take into account all the money local businesses and charities make and keep independent from the event, Campbell said.

Last year a $15,000 sponsor saved the CVD parade. This year another sponsor is needed. CVD sponsorships start at $350. The city refused to grant the $100,000 flagship sponsorship.

Fox told Mitnick to see if the school district or park district would contribute to CVD before the city contributed the $35,000 the staff had recommended giving.

CVD organizers said postponement of voting on the $35,000 funding to the Dec. 18 City Council meeting would create a hardship in reserving vendors and the carnival. The event is to begin April 19 with a picnic; the festival runs April 30 to May 4.

Fox asked Campbell if the group would pay the city back the money if the event was a success this year. She said the money goes to charity, not to the organizers, and would make no such agreement.

Fox said the city already gives money to charities and would like to discuss how the nonprofits could pay the city back seed money.