CITY COUNCIL: SCC 1st Quarter 2008/2009 Financial Reports

To: Mayor McCloud and Members of the City Council
From: Peter Lesnik
Sunset Cultural Center, Inc.
Date: October 21, 2008
Subject: 1st Quarter 2008/2009 Financial Reports

Summary of Operations as of September 30, 2008

SCC outperformed budget by $30,973 in the first quarter of fiscal 2008/9.

Rental Income was 14 % better than budget and included revenue from the Carmel Bach Festival, Monterey Symphony, The Western Stage, Ocean Avenue Motor Club and Carmel Authors & Ideas Festival.

Sunset Presents opened the season with a highly successful show, “It’s Magic.” It drew over 800 people who enjoyed an art opening, strolling magician, animals from Wild Things and free balloons and popcorn. The show brought in over $3000 more than budgeted.

Fees and Other Income were $41,336 compared to a budget of $58,786 or $17,450 less than the budget for this quarter. The shortage resulted from two main occurrences: interest rates on T‐Bills decreased significantly and several deep discounts were arranged for the Carmel Authors & Ideas Festival.

Salaries, Payroll Taxes, Benefits & Other Direct Costs were $218,848 compared to a budget of $241,926, or $23,078 less than budget. We expect actual costs to be in line with budget for the remainder of the year.

Ticketing Services, which includes the Box Office and website costs, were $33,917 against a budget of $41,841 for the quarter.

Utilities, Maintenance & Insurance were $67,884 or $22,547 below the quarterly budget of $90,431 due to deferring some maintenance projects to the 3rd and 4th quarters.

In summary, the Sunset Presents shows will continue to offer an interesting array of events through next June, and we are hopeful that ticket sales will be strong through the next three quarters to generate anticipated bottom‐line results.