Months after the last tents were taken down and the final floats put away for the 2013 Española Valley Fiesta, the Fiesta Council is on track to nudge their budget into the black. After tallying their revenues and expenditures, the Council could run a surplus of $59, if final sources of revenue are collected.
A final budget report submitted by the Council to the city stated $60,359 was spent, while $59,018 was taken in. The remaining $1,341 deficit is offset by $1,400 in pending payments that were a result of vendors’ bounced checks, reimbursements for lost Fiesta property and revenue that wasn’t documented in the original report.
Española Executive Assistant and Council liaison Julie Sanchez is responsible for correcting these issues, Council President Ruth-Ann Vargas said. Sanchez will also follow up with vendors and attempt to collect on the bounced checks.
Despite the stated numbers, adding up the totals and balances yields different numbers. When added, the Fiesta took in $57,800 and expended $55,284.
Highlights from the funds raised for the Fiesta included $18,850 from booth fees and $14,199 from the carnival.
More than half of the expenditures listed for the Fiesta were categorized as “Other Contractual Services,” including $4,126 to America’s Tent Rentals and $2,698 to Pro Sec Services.
Vargas said she was happy with the Council’s performance, but felt they could have had $10,000 in Council coffers if they had been given more time.
Besides the late start, Vargas said the Council had to deal with a variety of challenges before throwing Española’s signature party.
After receiving only $3,000 from the Lodgers Tax Board, Vargas said the Council had to contend with a despondent City Hall that wouldn’t return calls or offer advice.
Council Treasurer Christi Ann Olguin backed up Vargas’s assertion, saying she had to learn the Fiesta’s financial system on the fly, with little assistance from city officials.
“It’s really sad that they don’t communicate well,” she said.
Even with the setbacks, Vargas was pleased with the turnout and the support the Fiesta received from participants and the community.
“It was amazing to see the community come together,” she said.
Vargas and the Fiesta Council were warmly received during their final budget report at a Nov. 19 City Council meeting. Councilor Peggy Martinez praised them for the comprehensiveness of their report and endorsed their return for next year’s Fiesta.
“I look forward to having you guys around next year,” Martinez said.
The Council was appointed in March, giving them only four months to prepare instead of the standard nine.
At first, Vargas did not want to join the Council.
She said Mayor Alice Lucero approached her at an event and asked her to join the Council. While she didn’t immediately offer her commitment, she began receiving congratulatory calls regarding her appointment after her conversation with Lucero.
Vargas said she originally intended to act as Council president on an interim basis, until the city could find a permanent replacement.
A replacement never came and she ended up serving a full term.
Lucero did not return a request for comment.
While Vargas remains noncommittal on whether she will seek the presidency for the 2014 Fiesta, she characterizes her potential plans for next year with three words: “bigger, bigger, bigger.”
Vargas said she has been in contact with State Sen. Richard Martinez about appropriating state funding toward the Fiesta.
She said the city’s current audit situation should not prevent the Council from receiving any legislative appropriations.
Vargas also said she wants the Fiesta to have a bank account independent from the city, which currently acts as a fiscal agent for all Council expenditures and revenues.
Vargas’s ambitions for the Fiesta go far past next year. She said she wants more hotels in the downtown area.
Besides adding money to the Lodgers Tax pool, she said new hotels would help revitalize main street and put the Fiesta on par with the fiestas in Santa Fe and Albuquerque.
Vargas acknowledged she could be pushing for these changes from the sidelines; she’s currently creating applications for the Council president position.