Butter & Egg parade in limbo due to cuts

<p>Organizers of Petaluma’s annual Butter & Egg Days Parade say they could be in the same boat as the recent Veterans Day Parade — having to pay thousands of dollars for the cost of police, paramedics and other city employees needed at the event.</p><!-- Nothing to do. The paragraph has already been output --><p>The Petaluma Downtown Association says the cost of those services — traditionally picked up by the city — could put a $25,000 hole in the parade’s $90,000 budget.</p><p>We’re evaluating whether we can even have it or not,” said Jeff Mayne, vice president of the PDA. “We’ve been in limbo.”</p><p>City Manager John Brown said while the subject has been broached with parade organizers, no decision has been made to have the PDA foot the bill for the public costs.</p><p>“We’re having conversations about the future of that event,” Brown said. He said the city recognizes the “magnitude” of the funding that is needed to cover public services at the parade.</p><p>“I’m not certain that’s something they can manage on their own,” Brown said of the PDA.</p><p>Mayne said the PDA had been prepared to put on a parade without the $10,000-$20,000 that traditionally comes from the city’s share of hotel bed taxes. Entry fees, donations and food and beer sales also make up the parade budget.</p><p>Earlier this year the city said it couldn’t provide that hotel-tax money because of lower-than-expected revenues.</p><p>“We could have tolerated that,” Mayne said.</p><p>But a requirement to fund up to $25,000 for the cost of police and other city workers to be on duty would gut the annual April celebration, he said.</p><p>“The question is, can we throw half a party?” Mayne said. “You could have half a parade and you’re still going to need the same amount of police and public works service as a full parade.”</p><p>The Butter &67 Egg Days Parade is “truly a ‘spirit of the community’ event, where we’re inviting the whole Bay Area into the community to learn what we’re all about,” Mayne said. “The idea that we’re moving to a pay-for-service approach is just wrong.”</p><p>Earlier this year, the annual Northbay Veterans Parade announced that it was in jeopardy because the city required that the cost of public services be paid by organizers.</p><p>But donations from individuals and businesses flowed in, easily meeting the $12,500 cost, and the parade went on as scheduled last month.</p><p>Mayne said the PDA hasn’t yet decided whether to seek additional donations to cover the cost. The group is not yet ready to make a public appeal for funds, he said.</p><p>“I just don’t know where, even in a healthy economy, that $25,000 would come from,” he said. “We’re still analyzing what we can do.”</p><p>Brown said the city and the nonprofit group haven’t yet had detailed conversations about whether fund-raising might be needed or other ways to offset the costs.</p><p>“They need to know, fairly early in the game, what they can and can’t do,” Brown said. “I understand the problem exists, but we haven’t sat down and talked about solutions yet.”</p><p>(Contact Corey Young at corey.young@arguscourier.com)</p>