Council: miscommunication left events contractor planning for larger budget

Council heard that Treadway, the city's events contractor, planned its 2026 calendar-year events on a $1,292,000 budget while the city adopted a reduced appropriation of $700,000.

"The contract calls for the contractor to submit a budget... In this case, that's what happened, and the budget for $1,292,000 was approved for the calendar year... the budget committee reduced the tourism fund budget from the 1,292,000 to $700,000," said Ashley Hubbard (councilor), who outlined the timeline. Council and staff said the contractor did not learn of the reduction until late August or early September after many contracts and commitments were already in place.

City staff and council members noted a timing mismatch: the contractor works on a calendar year while the city operates on a fiscal year, which pushes major event expenditures into the period immediately after the city's fiscal-year start. The finance director said this is not a revenue problem but an appropriation issue requiring additional appropriations to allow planned events to proceed.

The city emphasized the contractor "is not at fault" and attributed the problem to internal communication and the passing of a former staff member, which staff said delayed notification.