Council members heard what City Manager Clint Quilter said
were
”
raw
”
numbers lacking full reports from all parties involved, but the
presentation was mostly complete, he said. On the potential upside,
Quilter at Monday’s meeting also said he had hopes of getting back
somewhere between $170,000 and $180,000 through liquidation of
merchandise.
HOLLISTER
The Hollister City Council on Monday set a hearing for next week on the rally’s future and heard an earful from residents on merchandise sales at the 2008 event.
City Manager Clint Quilter’s current estimate, meanwhile, has Hollister losing $125,500 once the promoter pays the remaining $37,000 he owes. Those figures don’t include the $96,278 deficit on merchandise sales – city leaders are attempting to liquidate the leftover T-shirts, hats and pins – intended to help fund the nearly $400,000 price tag for security and other costs.
Council members heard what City Manager Clint Quilter said were “raw” numbers lacking full reports from all parties involved, but the presentation was mostly complete, he said. On the potential upside, Quilter at Monday’s meeting also said he had hopes of getting back somewhere between $170,000 and $180,000 through liquidation of merchandise.
Comments from the public Monday were both critical and supportive of leaders’ decision to sell merchandise at the event.
Dan Stern, owner of House of Thunder Harley-Davidson in Morgan Hill, spoke highly of the rally and the city’ support. He suggested city leaders ask for help from surrounding communities that gain economically – such as consistently sold-out hotels in Morgan Hill and Gilroy during that weekend – to pay for rally security.
“I support this rally financially and have since it started,” said Stern, who previously owned a Harley-Davidson dealership in Hollister. “(Other rallies) work with many of the other surrounding communities to make it beneficial for everybody. It is an incredibly safe environment here – the police do a great job.”
Charisse Tyson, owner of Johnny’s Bar and Grill, voiced her support and said her business benefited greatly again from the rally. But when it comes to selling merchandise, she asked the council to “please leave it to the pros.”
Owner Seth Doulton of Horse Power Promotions, the event promoter for a second consecutive year in 2008, thanked council members for making the investment on merchandise – despite the loss – while he asserted there would have been no rally without it because the funding wasn’t there to make it happen.
The total revenue from the rally so far comes to $239,764, which includes a deposit from Horse Power Promotions for $140,000 and business license revenue of $39,764.
The total costs came to $365,306 – mostly for police and partly for firefighters. Barring merchandise liquidation, the city would lose about $222,000 on the rally.
For an expanded version of this story, see Friday’s Free Lance.
