California’s General Fund Gets Break from OC Fair & Event Center
Costa Mesa, Calif. (March 4, 2011) – No taxpayer money from California’s General Fund is needed to fund the operations of the OC Fair & Event Center, thanks to a plan approved by the 32nd District Agricultural Association Board of Directors to assume all remaining costs to operate the 150-acre, publicly-owned facility.
The nine-member Board of Directors unanimously approved the plan to assume the final $153,000 in annual costs related to insurance and annual audit expenses that had been subsidized by California’s General Fund.
The Board of Directors’ action means the OC Fair & Event Center is now a fully self-supporting public enterprise requiring no tax dollars for the operation of its programs and facilities.
“The OC Fair & Event Center has been virtually self-supporting for the last 16 years,” said David Ellis, Chairman of the 32nd District Agricultural Association Board of Directors. “Taking on the last remaining $153,000 in annual costs not only provides relief – however small – to California’s General Fund, it also drives home our commitment to manage this valuable public asset in a way that actually returns revenue to its owners: the people of California.”
The $153,000 in annualized costs the 32nd DAA is assuming include:
$26,000 Unemployment Insurance
$42,000 Property Insurance
$45,000 Vehicle Insurance
$40,000 California Department of Food and Agriculture Audit
The expenses were previously subsidized by allocations from the California Division of Fairs and Expositions and the California Department of Food and Agriculture, which are funded from the state’s General Fund.
“The Board of Directors is to be commended for responding to California’s budget challenges by giving the OC Fair & Event Center staff the tools we need to continually meet our goal to be self-supporting,” said Dr. Steven Beazley, OC Fair & Event Center President and CEO. “We’re proving every day that publicly owned assets such as the Fair & Event Center can be run efficiently, profitably and for the benefit of California’s taxpayers.”
The OC Fair & Event Center is located off the 405 and 55 freeways at 88 Fair Drive in Costa Mesa. For more information, please visit ocfair.com, friend us at Facebook.com/OCFair or follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/ocfair.