What is the cost of the fireworks to the city?

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

How can one estimate the total cost to the city? Is it possible to get numbers from past years? In the past, I remember hearing that NSTAR and other companies were sponsoring them. But they were not paying for the extra cost of firefighters and cops working overtime, for example. If they cost nothing, I'm all for it. But if they are funded with taxpayer dollars, then I'm more ambivalent, given all the recent budget cuts.

Edit: Information on fireworks cost from other cities: www.cnn.com/2009/US/07/03/independence.day.fireworks.canceled/index.html

Comments

[genesayssitdown.livejournal.com]

i think they may bring in enough tourist dollars to turn a pretty tidy profit

[wonkywheels.livejournal.com]

I think the OP meant the city of Somerville, not the city of Boston. I doubt that we get too many tourists in the Ville.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

You'd be surprised. There's also the matter of bringing people out to local businesses.

I agree.

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

But I'm wondering if there are any estimates out there of the actual costs to the city, so that one can see if they are offset by estimated benefits to local businesses. I don't even have an idea about the order of magnitude of the costs to the city. Is it more than 10Ks? Let's see, if 50 individuals work overtime for an extra 5 hours at $70/hr, that would be $17,5K. If we assume 1000 extra people will come to Somerville and spend $20 each (on average), that is 20 K total, but the actual profits to business owners are much less than that...

Re: I agree.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Honestly, if the city really couldn't afford it, I don't think they'd do it in the first place. I'm not familiar with the vendor they use or what that vendor charges.

Re: I agree.

[overstim.livejournal.com]

remember the basic law of economics: 2/3 of government spending comes back to the govt/ as taxes

Re: I agree.

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

True. However, the state and cities have been cutting budgets. Perhaps there are budget items that cannot be transferred to other categories and events such as fireworks have a pot of money that you can use or lose. I wish somebody who's familiar with city budgets etc could enlighten us.

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

I am guessing a reasonable chunk of metrowest folks head into town to watch. It also serves to get residents up and about, which often results in more support to local businesses, etc.

[ron_newman]

Maybe ... but Newton and Waltham both have big fireworks displays of their own on July 4.

[curiositykt.livejournal.com]

but that's the reason that somerville's aren't on the fourth. more money through not competing.

[ron_newman]

People may come from Cambridge or Medford or Arlington, but probably not from much beyond there. Also I don't see how the event can 'turn a profit' since it doesn't charge admission.

[genesayssitdown.livejournal.com]

oh oops, got my communities mixed up. thought this was referring to the boston fireworks display. the profit in that case would come from tax revenue.

[ron_newman]

But the city doesn't collect any sales or meals tax revenue. That all goes to the state.

[arrowintwolakes.livejournal.com]

They should have enacted the new parking laws sooner, they'd rake it in on the fourth!

Good idea!

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

Now we have to wait until next year.

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

I believe a slice of sales taxes go to the municipality it was collected from.

[toilandtrouble.livejournal.com]

But the Hatch Shell is a state property. And David Mugar funds the Boston fireworks display largely on his own. So I don't think cost is really a factor for Boston.

[ron_newman]

I don't see what that has to do with Somerville's fireworks display, which is what this post is about.

Actually, toil made a good point.

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

It costs little to Boston, which means that it makes sense for them to have fireworks. And people from nearby towns should converge on that event instead of recreating mini-events on their own.

Re: Actually, toil made a good point.

[diatomacearth.livejournal.com]

I like having fun stuff in my own city, and not always having to travel elsewhere in order to partake in culture and festivities. I don't mind my tax dollars spent to that end, and I'm cool with your tax dollars being spent for it as well.

Re: Actually, toil made a good point.

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

As I said, if it was free, this would not be an issue. I also like not having mentally ill people on the streets of my city, though I understand that this is not as high priority as having "fun stuff in my own city". If the Mayor had nothing to hide, he'd publish the relevant cost information for people to see and evaluate for themselves.

Re: Actually, toil made a good point.

[diatomacearth.livejournal.com]

Dude, write to him and ask before you imply that the fireworks are a local government conspiracy to deprive mentally ill people of housing and medical care.

Once again, I have to ask: do you ever get tired of trolling? This one was kind of a stretch.

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

But it gets the mayor re-elected. Isn't that the primary purpose of local government?

[obie119.livejournal.com]

Often the fireworks have to be booked a year in advance, with (I think) hefty cancellation fees. Also, it's much cheaper to have fireworks on a day that isn't the 4th. The 4th is an enormous premium.

[dariusk.livejournal.com]

This article cites the complete cost of a July 4th fireworks display for Middletown, CT at $60,000:

http://www.middletownpress.com/articles/2009/06/29/news/doc4a49824618a4a772370282.txt

That breaks down into 40k for the fireworks and 20k for the city officials working overtime. It was held today, on July 2nd, so that's without the cost hike for doing it on the 4th. Middletown is about 60% the size of Somerville, although they're a little more isolated so I think they would get a lot of people from surrounding towns to attend.

Anyway, I figure it might be useful for a ballpark estimate.

Thanks!

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

Perhaps the Somerville News could do something useful for a change and publish something similar for Somerville? This is more than I thought. Even assuming that corporations cover the cost of the fireworks (I don't know if it's the case this year). I'm not sure I understand why each town needs its own fireworks, given the density around here. Especially these days, in which even 20 K could be used for something more productive.

Re: Thanks!

[duffless2323.livejournal.com]

That's your perspective that it's not productive.

That's not shared by all. Do yourself a favor and try to enjoy life.

And that's your perspective...

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

Equally not shared by all. If you need fireworks to enjoy life, then you are like one of those unfortunate folks in Land of the Dead. In my book, when important social services are being cut for lack of money, luxury items go first.

[daviscubed.livejournal.com]

JazzFest, Artbeat, Honkfest, they all cost money of some kind in overtime for cops/firemen, as well. I'm a fan of all three, and fireworks, and I'm guessing that the cost is minimal enough I won't care.

[eeyorecol.livejournal.com]

I'm with you

I would much prefer that the City of Somerville spend taxpayer money on things like fireworks, the movie series, and the festivals than the lawsuit against the FAA, but I could be alone in that

[purpless77.livejournal.com]

I couldn't agree more Daviscubed and eeoryecol. There is always money that can go elsewhere. But family fun is an important part of a city. At least in my view. This was an old Somerville tradition that most Somerville residents missed and wanted to see back. I rather see family fun events then more buildings and other crap such as the ridiculous lawsuit that eeyorecol mentioned. With the restoration of the parade along with the fireworks families have more fun and exciting things to do together that is only steps away in their own city. I remember as a kid growing up a lot of us couldn't get into Boston. Some of my friends didn't see live fireworks until they were teenagers. I am in full support of Somerville having it's fireworks display.

[antimony.livejournal.com]

As long as they're not doing them every weekend, I think it's a perfectly GOOD use of my tax dollars. Not everything is infrastructure.

[versonic.livejournal.com]

Amen.

[diatomacearth.livejournal.com]

Agreed. There are tangible and intangible benefits to promoting cultural events and fostering community spirit--those are things that make people want to live in your city.

[ron_newman]

Also agree. ArtBeat, ArtsUnion, the Sunsetters, the fireworks, the new jazz festival, the summer movies, HonkFest, Illuminations Tour, Open Studios, the various historic tours, all bring people here together.

I would like to see a bit more scattering of events, though. Lots of stuff happens in and around Union and Davis squares, but almost nothing is ever scheduled for Magoun Square or Winter Hill.

[antimony.livejournal.com]

At least it's more than one square now -- I lived in Union years back before it started getting nifty events. Everything was in Davis or Cambridge.

[pearlythebunny.livejournal.com]

I think events seem to be reasonably well scattered. There are events at City Hall, the high school, Foss Park, the Growing Center. Last October, there were fireworks along the Mystic River in Assembly Square. There's been a kite festival (or two) at Draw 7 Park. There's the flag raising at Prospect Hill Park.

I think the pre-Independence Day fireworks and the Family Fun Day at Trum field could both be considered Magoun Square, since Trum Field is the largest open space that I know of near Magoun Square.

Eyeroll

[duffless2323.livejournal.com]

I get so pissed off when I read stuff like this. Can't we just have something nice and fun for the community. There are always budget problems, in every community, at all times. If communities cut out all the fun everytime the budget was hit we'd never have anything community building. People should just chill the f out and enjoy the fireworks. It's once a year, it's a tradition and it's fun. 2 cents.

Re: Eyeroll

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

Given the list of events mentioned above, clearly this would not mean cutting ALL the fun. It would mean cutting something that is highly redundant with similar events going on 1 mile from here. Get your butt off your chair and go see the fireworks in Boston, on the 4th of July, as it should be (what is this lame 9th of July stuff anyway?).

Re: Eyeroll

[shana-lyons.livejournal.com]

I'm with you. Somerville's fireworks are lovely and give a pretty populous city a nice small town feel for the day. As long as the city keeps the cost fairly reasonable (and by that I mean comparable with other displays) I'm all for it. I get that times are tough, but there's no need to suck the fun out of absolutely everything.

Re: Eyeroll

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

As far as I can tell, so far the fun has not been sucked out of anything, since no fun events have been cut. I understand that the Mayor cannot cut popular events without risking becoming somewhat unpopular. Better to cut budgets in not so visible places.
But a better strategy for him would be to say exactly how much this costs and whether paying for this means that other programs will have to be reduced/cut (and which ones). Pretty simple.

FYI

[madscientist01.livejournal.com]

I attended the fireworks last week in Somerville, and wanted to let you know that the major made a point of saying no taxpayer money went into the fireworks -- that it was entirely paid for by various sponsors (I can't remember them specifically).