Will the city help pay for the Los Banos Fourth of July fireworks celebration? Maybe not

The Los Banos City Council couldn’t agree whether to co-sponsor the Los Banos Downtown Association’s Fourth of July Celebration and fireworks display.

At issue is the cost associated with the event — and money that might need to come out of the city’s budget to put it on.

Sharon Silva, the executive director for the Los Banos Downtown Association, said that the association had first planned for the event in October 2020.

The association requested $15,660 from the city to cover the costs of having police security, tables, chairs, mobile lighting, signage boards, and cooling stations. The event itself is estimated to cost between $30,000 to $35,000, Silva said.

But the city council, she said, was caught off guard by the $15,660 request. The apparent miscommunication was blamed on the change in city management leadership in March when Gary Brizzee replaced Alex Terrazas. Brizzee apologized to the council for the lapse in communication during the city’s reguarl meeting on June 2.

While council members supported having the event, some expressed concerns about the co-sponsorship.

Councilmember Deborah Lewis said stepping outside of the city’s policy and providing such large expenditures with taxpayer money would be unfair to other organizations that also need funding.

“I’m a 100% supporter of the Downtown Business Association because I want to see our downtown look better and get better,” Lewis said.

“But we have other costs we’re going to be responsible for (like) fixing our streets and sidewalks, lighting, a myriad of things that’s going to come out of our pocket, and we cannot afford to be nickeled and dimed and placed in a position where our backs are in a corner to pay for something that has been planned for a while and now we’re getting asked to dish out the money.”

Councilmember Kenneth Lambert agreed.

“I totally support the Downtown Association and will continue to support the downtown association. I just feel that this is a lot of money, and past organizations have had to pay fees (for their events),” he said.

“It would draw a big group, yes, it would, but I feel we need to be fair across the board.”

Whether the city chooses to co-sponsor the event, Silva said the Fourth of July event would go forward. It would also be the first time the city has had the event since 2013, Silva said.

Silva is confident the money can be raised from various sponsorships even if the city doesn’t co-sponsor the event.

“I mean, we’re three and a half, four weeks out, so we lose some funding, but what can we do?” Silva said. “We’ll pay for the permits and stuff. You don’t stop (planning the event) three and a half weeks out. We’re getting great responses. The families are really excited. Why would we not do this?”

The council agreed to take up the discussion again at its June 16 meeting.