Perspectives on Ludington's New Year's Ball Drop 2013

[XLFD]

The Past

The concept of the New Year's Eve Ball Drop began in Ludington four years ago, until that time there generally was just a variety of private NYE parties, well-stocked downtown taverns, and generally quiet celebrations of the event at homes.  Mayor Henderson started the ball rolling back at the beginning of 2009, and we now have the Downtown Ludington ball drop, as explained herein:  The NYE Ball Drop.

This link also shows the main problem that many have had with this event, namely the use of $15,000 or more of public funds to put the event on, and the lack of any revenue on the books coming back to the City through its Downtown Development Authority (DDA).  As noted in that link, the state-mandated DDA financial records showed all of these expenditures, but nothing coming in, and further FOIA inquiries showed that many of the businesses with representatives on the Ludington DDA made definite gains.

Whether it be DDA Officer/City Councilor Johnson supplying alcohol from AJ's Party Port, (former) DDA Officer/City Councilor Tykoski gaining from lettering glasses and supplying lights for the ball, (former) DDA officer St. Hillaire selling her glassware, DDA Officer Payment getting ad money for her business and supplying only positive press for the event, the COLDNews, DDA Officer Carrie Kosla providing insurance for the event from her agency (Lenz), etc. it looked unethical these first two years.

Last year's event in the 2011 column, however, the City has indicated in this year's budget that they had made $24,228 in revenue from the event, which was incredible...

...since those same records indicate they spent only $300 in NYE supplies that year:

With them making such obscene profits, over 8000% of what they invested, you have to tip your hat to them.  Yet this is what their 'open books' show, continued poor accounting which you wouldn't expect from a public agency loaded with conflicts of interest from its members.  They should be a bit more polished.

By the way, the $24,000 plus that did come in detailed here: FOIA Request: NYE Revenues 2011.pdf shows $5105 was provided by West Shore Banks sponsorship, $1000 by the House of Flavors, and a lot of receipts of money from various outlets, not to mention a buy off at the end by the Ludington Area CVB of leftover merchandise.  You will also notice the records play easy with the dates of those receipts, some coming in this last February and posted as coming in on 12-31-2011.  The lax bookkeeping theme continues...

The Present

Come this year, some of my circle of friend and familial acquaintances checked out the NYE Ball Drop, most for the first time.  I was canoodled into checking it out myself, but I deferred on staying later than 11:15, because the aspect of bringing in the New Year in sub-freezing temperatures with most of the people who are ruining my town did not appeal to me.  Just like the proverbial atheist smirks at the raising of an angel or star to the top of a Christmas tree, I looked with no great desire to watch a lighted ball get lowered by a crane at the striking of midnight.

On arrival coming north on James Street with my favorite nine year old, we got a look at the ball changing colors and she was excited.  But then we got in the midst of an F-bomb exchange between some drinking guys hanging out around Gasoline Alley and another party about a block further down.  She put her mittened hands over her delicate ears all by herself.

The wind was light, and the temperature was around 30 degrees, but there wasn't anything of the big crowd I had expected out on the streets all the way up to about 11:15.  My deadline met, without anything that really interested me, I headed back the five blocks to my residence, with one of my party of eight.  about fifteen minutes later, a couple more came back, wanting to spend the big moment with us in the usual warmth of such celebrations.  The other four remained out at the party.

When they came back, two of the party admitted to having had no fun, albeit both were having their own personal dramas overshadowing the event, which didn't allow them to escape the reality of it.  Another one, the youngest liked the event but was happy to get back, and my young one really enjoyed the event.  She loves pyrotechnics, and the fireworks show was close, loud and vibrant.

So this is in no way a scientific conclusion, but the four who stayed home for midnight had a great time toasting in the new years, and only one of the four who went downtown admitted to having a really good time, lends one to believe that New Year's Eve is more than just wading around among a bunch of strangers outdoors waiting for that one moment where a lit sphere is lowered and a couple of minutes of fireworks goes off.  But if this appeals to you, don't make all  the taxpayers foot the bill for this celebration.

And, of course, the liquor permit gotten for this event is lacking the same rigor as the Oktoberfest event, with only one of the many churches in the downtown area affected signing the appropriate application.  If I were running one of the local gin joints in town, I would be shaking the tree about this unlawful intrusion into my territory by the local government.  But they can't risk that, I'm sure. 

The Future

My bias against the NYE Ball Drop here in Ludington has been fostered by the history of poor accounting on behalf of funding the event, the lack of putting revenues gained on the ledger, and the transfer of strictly public funds into private hands of DDA Officers, whether they deserve it or not.  These all play hand in hand when you decide to fund an enterprise like this with public dollars, and sub-par accountability.

If the NYE Ball Drop is revenue-neutral or turns a profit, why can we not take the public's money out of the whole to-do and allow sponsors, the Chamber of Commerce, the Convention and Visitor's Bureau (whose revenues just jumped dramatically due to the room tax they impose on local lodgers), or other entity to run the one night show?  History shows that when the motivation to turn a profit is part of the equation, an event like the ball drop will have businesses knocking down the door to get a piece of running, sponsoring and hosting the event.  

Contrarily, the City and their DDA should be desirous to pass the stewardship of this event over to these other entities, for then their administration costs go down, the potential for conflicts of interest problems diminish, and they can't be accused of making 8000% profits, no profits, or cooking the books-- all from what their own records show.

If this doesn't happen, what does that mean?  It means that there is some subsidization by the Ludington City Government (your local tax dollars) to the event that the business communities need to put this event on.  It is probably  inevitable that Mayor Henderson's New year's baby will continue for this next year, but let us hope that we can get a true accounting of this in 2014, when the next mayor oversees the DDA.