Council reviews budget

Frisco Festival future uncertain

ROGERS — City Council members on Monday reviewed a $ 71 million proposed budget for 2022, including a funding change for downtown programming that leaves the Frisco Festival’s future uncertain.

Department heads appeared before the council to present their budgets during the eight-hour meeting. The council is expected to consider the finalized budget in December, according to Mayor Greg Hines. It does not include American Rescue Plan Act funds, he said.

The overall budget includes $71 million in revenue, $ 70.75 million in expenses and a surplus of $264,200, which will be put into reserve if the revenue is realized, Hines said. State law requires cities to pass a balanced budget, he said.

The budget the council approved last December for 2021 projected about $ 66.4 million in revenue and about $66.1 million in expenses.

The city’s reserve has grown from $15 million to about $50 million over the past decade, Hines said. In the next year, the city needs to create a strategy for using and protecting the fund, he said.

The proposed Community Development Department budget ends a $ 100,000 contract with Downtown Rogers Inc., which provided the Frisco Festival, Farmers Market and annual Christmas parade, according to John McCurdy, community development director. Downtown Rogers Inc. is a part of the Rogers-Lowell Area Chamber of Commerce.

The money will be shifted to arts and cultural programming, McCurdy said. The Community Development Department plans to continue funding concerts in the park and to contract with a private company to manage the Farmers Market, he said.

The city does not plan to continue funding the Frisco Festival and Christmas parade in 2022, Hines said. This year’s Christmas parade already is planned for Dec. 3, he said.

The Frisco Festival was established in 1984 and celebrated its 36th year in August. The two-day festival is held downtown.

During the festival, the city hears a lot of complaints from downtown merchants who are concerned about streets shutting down and loss of business, Hines said.

The money the city is spending on the festival is designed to help downtown businesses, not hurt them, he said.

“I just think it’s time to put it on halt and reset and decide what does Rogers want moving forward,” Hines said, adding that one possibility would be planning smaller events spread throughout the year that are less disruptive and bring a steady flow of people downtown.

The city provided a subsidy for Downtown Rogers Inc. that funded the nonprofit along with sponsorships from the community, according to Raymond Burns, chamber president and CEO. One of Downtown Rogers Inc.’s employees was released in the middle of the year after the Farmers Market ended, another has found a new job and the third is staying with the chamber until the end of the year, he said.

Funding the Frisco Festival and Christmas parade in 2022 will be up to the city, he said.

The festival is not what it once was and has seen a dip in attendance in recent years, he said.

“I think there’s a question as to whether the festival is necessary, whether it serves the purpose it originally did,” Burns said.

The concerts on the new stage in the park attract more people downtown, he said.

The city’s relationship with the chamber remains strong, Hines said. There is still plenty of opportunity and plenty of time to figure out what the changes will mean going forward, he said.

“Does it mean we don’t have a Frisco Festival in 2022, I don’t know,” he said. “But if it does, it certainly doesn’t mean we can’t have a Frisco Festival in 2023. It just needs to reset.”