$57K expenses for LibDay fest

The monthlong Liberation Day festivity that will conclude on Sunday has incurred expenses totaling $57,130, according to organizers yesterday.

Terri Camacho, fiscal and budget officer of the Saipan Mayor’s Office, said the amount is a considerable drop from the $136,000 spent last year for the same celebration.

Camacho said the biggest expense was the building of tents for concessionaires costing $12,960, followed by the raffle prizes, which totaled $10,500.

The Liberation Day committee also spent $8,100 for the entertainers’ fee and $7,900 for the one-month use of the sound system.

Before and during the festivities, food coupons were issued to volunteers, guests, and staff, totaling $5,000, while the committee spent $3,750 for the portable toilets and $3,300 to decorate both the stage and the royal court’s float.

Camacho said that $2,500 was allocated for all other construction activities such as building the stage, while $1,200 was spent for the printing of Liberation Day materials. Security expenses totaled $1,920.

The committee also expects to see a significant power bill for the monthlong activity.

Revenue from the festival is projected to reach $22,500, Camacho said, with $13,000 coming from food and non-food concessionaires’ fee and $9,500 from the Liberation Day candidates’ ticket sales.

There were only over 20 concessionaires in this year’s celebration. Food vendors paid $600 to rent stalls, while non-food stores shelled out $650.

Camacho said the three Liberation Day Queen candidates made ticket sales of $11,880—20 percent of which were turned over to the candidates.

This year’s estimated revenue is a remarkable decline from the more than $140,000 earned last year.

Camacho said the decline was a result of the minimal participation of concessionaires. The 2010 edition of the festival featured 40 concessionaires.

Despite lowering the fee for vendors this year, this did not encourage more concessionaires, Camacho said

Ticket sales of Liberation Queen candidates also showed a significant decline because only three candidates joined the popularity contest this year, compared to nine in 2010.

In the absence of actual funding from the appropriation law, the committee used the revenue it collected from stores and candidates to pay for its vendors and other obligations, Camacho told Saipan Tribune.

Saipan Local Law 17-9 had appropriated $45,000 for the Liberation Day festival, but it could only be provided once funding becomes available and upon satisfying first the budget for the Saipan Higher Education Financial Assistance, amounting to $3 million.

Camacho disclosed that Mayor Donald Flores was allowed by the Executive Branch to temporarily use and reprogram a portion of its operations budget for the municipality to cover the Liberation Day expenses.

The committee would reimburse this reprogrammed funding once the $45,000 is made available by the Department of Finance.