Alexandria — To the Editor:
I am writing to alert the citizens of Alexandria about some serious financial decisions made by our city council in the past few years that could impact the way that George Washington, St. Patrick’s Day, and our Scottish heritage is celebrated and remembered (or not) in Alexandria.
In November 2009, our committee (made up of citizens appointed by the City of Alexandria) received a letter from the City Manager informing us that the FY2010 budget was reducing the budget for special events by $150,000. This referenced that all three of the City parades (Scottish Walk, St. Patrick’s Day parade, and the Washington’s Birthday Parade) were now being asked to “help us by finding ways to reduce costs, and, if possible, raise private funds to help cover some of the expenses in the current fiscal year.” They went on to ask that our committees reduce the amount of City financial support by 30 percent for FY10.
Although the parade is the most expensive undertaking of the GWBCC committee, since the committee also is responsible for several other events in February that do incur expenses, they asked the GWBCC to “either reduce City expenses or reimburse the City in the amount of $18,824 (30 percent of the FY2009 costs) to offset the City’s cost for activities and events during the 2010 George Washington Birthday Celebration Weekend, including the Birthnight Ball, the 10K race, Revolutionary War Reenactment and the Parade.” The 10K race is our only fundraising event. The other two parade-organizing entities are only running parades, and thus their expenditures are less than those of the George Washington Birthday Celebration Committee (GWBCC).
In 2011, we changed our parade route, reducing the parade expenses by approximately $7,000. We also stopped doing fundraising with our 10K for outside charities, as we had now become the charity. These two changes did not make up the difference, and we solicited sponsorships to try to help defray the costs.
Since 2009, the City has upped their reduction so that in 2012, the GWBCC is now asked to come up with 50 percent of the cost covering. The GWBCC doesn’t know how or if this request can be met. Fifty percent of all of the costs of the GWBCC events can be attributed to the parade. An easy solution? Eliminate the parade. Then the GWBCC can pay for the other events, and use the 10K profits to pay the amount that the City is requesting on those.
Just using the 10K to pay for the parade doesn’t raise enough money — in fact, only about 1/3 of the parade expenses are covered by the 10K profits. Do they start charging admission to the re-enactment at Ft. Ward Park? Do they start charging for the Walking with Washington tours? Do they start charging restaurants to participate in the Cherry Challenge (an event that is still in the process of establishing itself amongst Alexandria restaurants)? Do they raise the price of the Birthnight Ball (which is already $100 a ticket, and has a very limited capacity)?
The City Council has not provided any representation on the committee for fundraising professionals, outside of “citizen slots.” The GWBCC also has no voice in approving who is elected to the slots. The GWBCC can certainly publicize committee openings, but cannot force people to volunteer on the committee, and cannot specify if they prefer one representative over another, based on how they could help the committee. That is the right of the City Council.
This financial burden will likely be an issue that the City will need to take decisive action on in the years to come. It is not reasonable to expect the GWBCC committee to become a fundraising committee, when that was never the primary purpose, and also due to the fact that there is no manner of representation on the committee for someone with that kind of experience.
If the City wishes to continue holding GW events in the City, it must find a way to fund the events itself, or must make a command that the GWBCC will cease specific events that have been run historically because the City is unwilling to fund them. As sad as that kind of future would be, I believe it is what will be necessary.
I had hoped to bring media attention to this situation this year, as you know, as a means to garner more public support for our events, and perhaps some financial support, but was unable, even with my television industry connections, to get anyone to pick up this story. I didn’t even get a response from the Gazette Packet.
The GWBCC events in the City are taken for granted by the citizens, and by our own City Council. It is unreasonable to expect that the GWBCC can be laden with such a large financial burden and still continue to run all of the events in the same manner as they have been in the past, if at all.
Sharon Sobel
GWBCC Committee member, 2000-2012
Fairfax