Amid current year budget cutbacks, a spending deficit, and expected “draconian” cuts in services next year, the Los Alamitos City Council voted last night to cancel the Fourth of July fireworks show unless the community donates the $15,000 needed to cover the costs of the event. Even though the net costs represent only about $0.75 for each of the approximately 20,000 people who attend the show, there is no way for the city to recover those costs from the attendees because the show is on the Joint Forces Training Base, JTFB.
Laura Herzog, spokesperson for the JTFB told www.OC180NEWS.com “It’s against the law for us to charge someone to come on to a federal military installation. Legally we can’t do it.” Other community events on the base, such as the “Race on the Base” are permitted to charge for event registrants, but that is different than charging for access to the base. Also, it would be ok to “pass the hat” or have a place where people can voluntarily make donations, but it cannot give the appearance of being mandatory.
The City of Seal Beach and the unincorporated community of Rossmoor each contribute to the fireworks show ($7,000 and $6,200, respectively) and the City of Los Alamitos charges for food service. But, these are not enough to cover the total costs for the event. The net costs are shared equally by the City of Los Alamitos and the City of Cypress. Last year, Los Alamitos did away with the bleachers and this saved about $15,000, but that still leaves an expected shortage this year of $14,930, according to Angie Avery, Director of Recreation and Community Services for Los Alamitos.
The Los Alamitos City Council charged Avery to come up with a plan to make the event cover its costs, but she told the City Council, without charging for admission, a breakeven event was not possible. At a special meeting earlier in the day, the City Council was confronted with staff recommendations for mid-year budget cuts for this year and an expectation of even larger cuts for next year. Thus, the Council members struggled with funding an Independence Day “party” while anticipating significant cuts in other important services.
None of the Council members expressed a desire to eliminate the fireworks show, but they could not come up with any other solution. Thus, they voted to cancel the show unless the City receives contributions to cover the estimated shortage of about $15,000. These donations, or pledges, must be received by the city by April 15 to save the show. Four of the five Council members voted to approve the motion, while Geri Mejia abstained.
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About Dolores Barr, Publisher
Dolores Barr has lived in Rossmoor since 1992 and has created this site to provide local news for the people of Los Alamitos, Seal Beach, Rossmoor, Leisure World, Sunset Beach, and Surfside, California. My husband and I have had two students graduate from the Los Alamitos Unified School District and currently our Grandson, Ricky Apodaca, grade 3 at Weaver Elementary, is actively involved in youth baseball through LAYB and youth football through FNL.
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