Last year, Scotts Valley was commended for its ability to overcome pandemic obstacles to bring back its Fourth of July Weekend fireworks display, although it took $70,000 from the General Fund to make it happen.
But at its regular meeting Feb. 15, the Scotts Valley City Council voted 4-1 against holding the combustible programming, this time citing budgetary and staffing pressures. Vice Mayor Randy Johnson dissented from the majority.
Staff had recommended this course of action, which would preserve a daytime parade with an airplane flyover, as it would only cost between $29,000 and $44,000, depending on the donations received.
More than 5,000 people purchased tickets to last year’s festivities at Skypark, including hundreds from Sacramento, Oakland and San Francisco—and with people from Illinois, Pennsylvania and Texas also among the buyers.
The event, however, took 26 meetings and nearly 500 hours of City staff time to pull off, even with 25 to 40 volunteers, and ended up costing $55,000, according to a staff report.
Council members had originally hoped the City might actually make money.
Mayor Jack Dilles said he didn’t think it would be responsible to hold the fireworks this year. Staff noted it has been putting off road restriping and said the wastewater treatment plant was pushed to the brink during the January storms.
Public Works Director Chris Lamm said if his staff was directed to take on fireworks event planning, it would be difficult to get much done besides doing their daily rounds.
Earlier in the evening, the Council heard the City has been falling behind on many of its municipal priorities.
But Councilmember Johnson said he thought Scotts Valley was failing to meet a challenge it’s been faced with. He sparred with City Manager Mali LaGoe—even cutting her off at one point—criticizing the report for not going into more detail about the benefits of holding a fireworks display.
He blamed the $25,000 event planner the City hired last time, and suggested Scotts Valley could find efficiencies that would allow the fireworks tradition to continue.
Councilmember Allan Timms said it might not be such a bad idea to get rid of the fireworks, since they can disturb pets and cause environmental damage.
Councilmember Donna Lind, who led the revival of in-person Independence Day celebrations two years ago, said raising thousands of dollars from community members wouldn’t be a problem, but ultimately agreed staff’s arguments made sense.
Lemme get this straight. In 2020 we voted to tax ourselves an additonal 2 million dollars per year to hire more staff and raise the salaries of existing staff. And now they can’t pull off a one day event that we all love because it takes too many meetings and staff time? Sounds more like civic incompetence or plain laziness.
I’ll remember this next time they hold out their hands for more money,
bingo!!!!
This is why China will win
I’m sure most people in the community think the exact same way. People are getting more and more lazy everyday. I mostly blame technology and internet but also the zero motivation that government workers have because they can do the bare minimum and get away with it. Why not think about the memories it would create with families all over the area? Why make this town just as lame as the rest that blame “environmental hazards or pets getting scared”? All we have is parades now? Every year my family looks forward to the fireworks, bouncy houses, food, and live band. Shame on them for giving up.
Very disappointing decision by the SVCC. The 4th of July Sky Park fireworks show meets a need for people from the all over the Central Coast to celebrate our country’s independence from Great Britain with a bang. I live in Monterey, and they abandoned their $40,000 fireworks show many years ago because the low cloud cover on the bay obscures the fireworks, limiting their enjoyment.
The Scotts Valley City Council approved $25,000 for an event planner to organize the fireworks. I would think there would be enough interest from community members to take over the event planning for 2024 and save $25,000.
I would gladly volunteer to help plan/organize to keep the tradition alive, and it seems 5,000 others share my enthusiasm.
SVCC feel free to contact me.