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Task force hits halfway mark on lofty fireworks fundraising goal
By Pru Sowers
Banner Staff
PROVINCETOWN — The July 4th fireworks task force hit the ground running last week when it set a goal of raising $40,000 in eight days.
The revived task force, which disbanded in protest earlier this year when funding for the $78,000 cost of the July 4th events was included in a Proposition 2 1/2 tax override, agreed last week to resume its fundraising efforts. The committee, led by police Staff Sgt. Warren Tobias and prodded along by Selectman Austin Knight, agreed to target 40 local businesses and ask them to donate to the festivities.
“If they all give $1,000, we’re there,” said Rick Murray, co-owner of The Crown & Anchor Inn and task force member. “It can be done.”
As of Tuesday evening, the task force reported to selectmen that over $20,000 had been pledged by local businesses and individuals. As a result, selectmen voted Tuesday to reinstate the fireworks as long as the task force is able to raise the entire amount.
The task force went through the original $78,000 budget line-by-line last week and eliminated things it thought could be dropped or should be paid for by the town, such as police protection. Items removed included the $3,300 cost of the annual town barbecue held for police and fire employees and their families, and $700 for street banners. The task force also agreed to put $9,000 for local police protection back in the police budget instead of the public service administration budget, where it was moved approximately three years ago.
Those and other cuts brought the $78,000 budget down to just under $59,000. Combined with $14,000 left over from last year’s fireworks and a $15,000 matching grant offered by the visitor services board, the task force hopes to have more than enough money to fund the day’s events.
“I do believe it’s going to happen,” Knight said. “The business community needs to help. And those who want the fireworks need to step up also.”
Convincing local businesses to pony up $1,000 may be a hard sell to some, however. Selectman Michele Couture, who co-owns the Lily Pond, a gift store on Commercial Street, said she would not contribute $1,000 towards the fireworks. Most of the tens of thousands of people who descend on Provincetown to watch the fireworks do not spend money in town, causing many local businesses to actually lose money that day, she said.
“Galleries don’t make money. Retail stores don’t make money. Let the businesses that make money pay for it,” Couture said, adding, “I don’t give a damn whether we have fireworks or not. And most of the town doesn’t either because they voted against it.”
Couture was referring to a ballot question in the May 6 election, where property owners were asked whether they wanted to permanently raise the tax levy by $78,000 to pay for the fireworks each year. The question failed by a 473-648 margin.
Police Chief Jeff Jaran was also worried about putting $9,000 back into the police budget. The money would come out of the police department’s overtime budget, which would “be a drain,” he said.
“It’s money that’s not there,” Jaran said, adding that he hopes the task force will raise enough money to cover the $9,000 bill.
In addition to the Provincetown police, another $15,500 goes toward added police protection from the Barnstable County Sheriff’s Dept., the Massachusetts State Police and the Plymouth County mounted patrol. Another $12,000 goes toward paying for extra ambulance coverage.
The fireworks themselves cost $17,000 last year, plus another $6,800 to rent a barge from which to launch the pyrotechnics. Town Manager Sharon Lynn said the barge company and state police have to be told by May 31 whether the town is moving ahead with the fireworks display.
psowers@provincetownbanner.com
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May 29th, 2008