Buffalo Place budget edges up
Assumes no change in Thursday at the Square revenues
Buffalo Place adopted a 2009 budget on Wednesday that anticipates no change in Thursday at the Square revenues.
The non-profit agency, which stages numerous downtown activities, including the Thursday at the Square summer concert series, has approved a $3.2 million budget for 2009, up 9.7 percent from the current year.
“It’s basically a hold-the-line budget,” said Executive Director Michael Schmand.
The Buffalo Place executive said the majority of the $276,000 increase for 2009 is tied to the agency’s contract with the Erie Canal Harbor Corp. Buffalo Place was hired by the harbor entity mid-year to oversee maintenance, security and programming services for the waterfront site, which debuted in late May.
“That contract adds close to $300,000 to the budget, but it’s basically money in/money out because of the costs tied to providing the various services,” Schmand said.
Buffalo Place also expects to reap nearly $30,000 in additional special-event revenues next year, primarily from new events it will stage at the downtown harbor.
But the agency left 2009 revenue projections for its high-profile Thursday at the Square series unchanged at $1.4 million.
The May through September concert series weathered a number of hiccups this year, including rampant incidents of public urination, problems with groups of non-concert-goers gathering on the fringes of the Lafayette Square concert site, and post-concert rowdy behavior by some attendees heading home on the Metro Rail.
Buffalo Place was also criticized for not booking enough African- American artists or music genres that would widely appeal to minorities, such as rhythm-and-blues or hip-hop.
Schmand called the various issues “lessons learned and responded to.”
“The bottom line is once again tens of thousands of people from around Western New York and Southern Ontario came to downtown Buffalo to hear great music and a vast majority of them went home happy,” Schmand said. “We consider 2008 a success.”
He said while the final accounting for Thursday at the Square is not yet complete, Buffalo Place has no reason to reduce projections for 2009 revenues. The free concert series covers its costs through food and beverage sales.
“If after we crunch all the numbers and meet with our sponsors, we need to make adjustments, we’ll do that. But right now we’re comfortable with our estimates,” Schmand said.
Last December, Buffalo Place got some bad news when final budget figures came in for the Thursday music events. The 2007 concert series missed budgeted revenue projections of $1.44 million by just over $200,000.
The 2008 concert revenue mark was lowered to $1.4 million in light of that outcome.
