DDA Examines Costs of Arts, Beats & Eats

So far, the Royal Oak Downtown Development Authority (DDA) is on the losing end of its $100,000 investment in this year's , with one member questioning expenses paid for parking operations.

At the DDA's regular meeting Tuesday, members reviewed a preliminary financial statement for the Labor Day weekend festival that shows the DDA lost $11,466.62 on the event.

DDA member Luigi Cutraro, owner of , questioned $71,618.45 paid to Ampco System Parking to oversee parking operations for the four-day event. Cutraro made a request to review the Ampco contract.

DDA Chairman Jim Domanski, co-owner of restaurant, said he appreciated Cutaro looking at contracts and expenditures. “We need to protect ourselves,” he said.

While the DDA got back $88,533.25 of its $100,000 investment, Domanski admitted it was never his intention not to get back the full investment.

“We all need to make sure our pencils are super sharp,” Domanski said. “I hope that we are involved in all the negotiations in the best way we can to know where our money is going.”

City Manager Don Johnson noted the report is preliminary. Final figures will not be available for a  “couple of months,” he said. Johnson said the report is missing a $5,000 invoice that showed up last week for security. A revenue of $4,500 Verizon Wireless paid to lease a portion of the Center Street parking structure to install a temporary communications facility is also missing from the preliminary report.

that $263,185 raised from the 2011 will be shared with 60 local charitable and cultural organizations.

This year, 335,000 people visited Arts, Beats & Eats, well below the record-breaking crowd of 423,000 of 2010 – the first year Royal Oak hosted the event. Much of the attendance loss was blamed on two days of sweltering heat followed by  on the third day of the event. The hammering wind and rain ushered in cooler temperatures but left  and  in the city.

A copy of the preliminary financial report may be viewed in the attached PDF.