Spoletoblog

Shortfall a "good thing?"

From Dottie Ashley's story this morning on Monday's Spoleto board meeting:

Spoleto Festival USA board members were told Monday they needed to raise $183,118 to balance the 2005 budget.

Chairman Eric Friberg gave the good news at the board's annual spring meeting, saying the figure is only 2.5 percent of Spoleto's $7.2 million budget.

Hey, being short that much cash is a relative predicament. Easy if it's Spoleto... tough if it's your mortgage...

Well, so much for the budget veto...

Lawmakers put Spoleto's $246,000 back in the budget Tuesday, adding to a new tradition that is starting to look a bit like Statehouse performance art. First they put the money in, then the governor takes it out, then they put the money back in again.

Call it a waltz.

Opening act: Budget cuts?

Here's a cheery little note for the week before the festival: Gov. Mark Sanford wants to cut $245k in funding for Spoleto out of the state budget.

Nigel Redden, quoted in Dottie Ashley's story:

"This is extremely disappointing. According to studies made several years ago, over the life of the festival, more than $1 billion has been brought into South Carolina because of the festival. The amount of sales tax and income tax generated by this amount dwarfs the (financial) support we receive each year from state government."

Sanford is a local boy, and the issue here is a wonkish two-year dispute between the governor and the Legislature (the governor favors a different means of funding projects), not arts-bashing. To be blunt about it, the bulk of Sanford's previous vetos have been restored by lawmakers -- so it's unlikely that Nigel's going to be holding a bake sale any time soon.