Official: Spectra only loser in Tritt concert

The company that brought Travis Tritt to Clovis in January lost more than $13,000 on the concert, but taxpayers did not lose any money, the promoter told Clovis city commissioners on Thursday.

On the heels of the city of Clovis granting $10,000 in lodgers tax funds toward promotion of the Tritt concert, the Curry County Events Center manager delivered a report to commissioners.

“I was asked to come before the city commission to answer questions regarding the Spectra Presents concert, which received lodgers tax funds,” Joelle Reed said. “It’s been reported, and it is true, the concert did not perform as well as Spectra Presents had hoped. However, Spectra Presents was the only party that had risk involved. The county was at no risk and the city’s lodgers tax was spent as indicated on the application.”

Clovis city commissioners in December approved $10,000 in lodgers tax dollars to help promote the Jan. 13 concert at the Curry County Events Center. Reed said $3,582 of the $10,000 was spent outside of Clovis (Amarillo and regionally) for promotional purposes, with $6,287.51 spent with local companies for advertising and promotion.

Spectra Presents is a private company that contracts with Curry County to operate the county’s special events center. Reed reported the concert was a $13,706 loss for the company.

Commissioners specifically referenced an opinion column in the Eastern New Mexico News, which questioned whether the use of city funds was prudent.

“I think the assertion is there was no return on the advertising dollar,” Mayor David Lansford said. “For many of us who have been in a situation to advertise, you don’t know if you are going to get a return on your advertising dollar, but you have to advertise in order to hope to get a return. We just didn’t see a return on our advertising dollar and that’s the cost of doing business in many respects.”

Mayor Pro Tem Juan Garza took umbrage with the editorial’s assertion taxpayers’ money could have been used better.

“I think the concern was not the misappropriation of money, but the use of taxpayers’ money — on an event that didn’t make any profits,” he said. “I am going to make this statement to the media, since they are the ones who have been attacking us as commissioners. No taxpayers’ money was used for this event. Lodgers tax money was used and that means people that stay at the hotels. No profit is required to receive funding. It’s about bringing people into the community so they can spend money in the community. The (lodgers tax) board allocates money per state statutes and that has been on the books forever. The board is doing a great job allocating funds. They need to look at the facts first before making accusations.”

The Lodgers Tax Advisory Board, which meets quarterly, makes recommendations on how to spend money from excise taxes on hotel stays. The commission can accept, reject or change any recommendation.

The Tritt concert, however, was never handled by the advisory board. It went straight to the city commission because the concert was confirmed following the board’s October meeting.

Reed said the promotion work advertised Clovis as a city that hosts Grammy-award winning concerts, and created temporary jobs for people who may not have had an income otherwise on that day.

“Spectra Presents put money back into Clovis to the tune of $15,788 locally spent to promote the concert,” she said. “On the lodgers tax application with the city of Clovis, it doesn’t provide for the city to receive revenue from any promoter, including Spectra Presents. The lodgers tax application states the purpose of the disbursement of lodgers tax funds is to attract overnight visitors and positively impact the local economy as a whole. Spectra Venue Management is about having a relationship with the city, county and community.”

The concert attracted 1,095 people, but only 650 tickets were purchased. Reed said some concert tickets were given away with a dual purpose in mind.

“Giving away tickets was not intended to be any sort of revenue benefit for the city,” she said. “The reason the ticket giveaway happened was because we needed to fill seats in the arena. We were nowhere near being sold out on Jan. 10. We gave tickets to first responders to show appreciation and also to fill seats. It’s a way of minimizing loss and to say thank you.”

According the Reed, 192 complimentary tickets were given to Clovis and Curry County first responders on Jan. 10 for the concert. She said Spectra Presents total net revenue was $25,634, with the lodgers tax reimbursement being $9,870.

“The total spent in Clovis by Spectra Presents was $15,788 and the amount spent outside of Clovis was $32,792,” she said. “The grand total of expenses (for Spectra) was $48,580. Spectra said some concerts they make a lot of money on, some concerts they break even on and some concerts they lose money. They want to develop markets in concert venues and while (they’re) not happy in the result here, they will be back.”