TAC wants Civic Advisory Committee

Tourism Administration and Convention Committee is asking the Escambia County Commission to form a Pensacola Civic Center Advisory Committee.

In June 2, 2008 letter to the commissioners, the TAC states:

The proposed budget for FY 2008/2009 requests a 12.7 percent increase ($170,000) in the subsidy for Civic Center operations. This follows a 10 percent increase for the current budget year and an additional $168,482 for a “co-promote fund” that equates to an additional 10 percent resulting in a total subsidy increase of approximately 20 percent for the current year.

The subsidy requested follows a 2007 Civic Center Internal Audit Report, prepared by the accounting firm Carr, Riggs & Ingram that identified 33 items of concern and resulted in the Clerk of the Court stating that the Civic Center management contract with SMG “does not offer any incentive for SMG to operate in a fiscally responsible manner.”

We respectively request that the Board of County Commissioners take immediate steps to ensure that the Civic Center is managed in the most efficient and fiscally responsible manner possible. This includes determining if the findings of the 2007 Audit report have been addressed by SMG.

It also includes the consideration of professional consultants or the establishment of an advisory board* composed of qualified business professionals for the purpose of reviewing Civic Center agreements and operations in order to determine if greater operational efficiencies can be achieved.