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HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 5.3 CTV Funding '4 ,~ e . CITY OF DUBLIN AGENDA STATEMENT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DATE: December 13, 1993 SUBJECT: Written Communication: Tri-Valley Community Television (CTV) Funding /};J (prepared by: Bo Barker, Management Assistant) EXHIBITS ATIACHED: 1)hosition Letter from Tri-Valley City Managers dated December 6,1993 2) /Letter from the CTV Board discussing Funding Options dated November 12, 1993 RECOMMENDATION: . tY Receive Presentation from Dublin's CTV Representative; and 1,4Js2> Approve an additional $11,279 contribution for Fiscal Year 1993-94 with the understanding that future funding is not guaranteed. " FINANCIAL STATEMENT: The Tri-Valley Community Television Board request would require an additional appropriation of $11,279 for Fiscal Year 1993-94. I?ESCRIPTION: The Tri-Valley Community Television Corporation (CTV) produces and airs community television programming for the cities of San Ramon, Dublin, Livermore and Pleasanton. Historically, CTV has been funded through grants provided by these four municipal entities. In addressing the anticipated fiscal shortfall for Fiscal Year 1993-94, the City Council reduced the funding to the Tri-Valley Community Television Corporation to a total of $9,000. This funding level was $32,000 below the original request from crv for $41,000 for Fiscal Year 1993-94. Subsequent to the new funding level the CTV Board of Directors, as well as the City Managers from the four cities, have discussed various proposals which would address CTV's funding shortfall. The position of the four City Manager's is described in Exhibit 1. With the support of the City Managers, the CTV Board has requested that the City Council approve a new funding level of $20,279. This request would cost the City an additional $11,279 for Fiscal Year 1993-94. The new funding level is based on the number of subscribers in the City of Dublin. In addition to requesting this increased funding level, the CTV board intends to approve service reductions which would reduce expenditures by approximately $20,000. As described in Exhibit 1, this proposal is seen as an equitable compromise to solve the budget shortfall faced by CTV for this year only. The City Managers agree, however, that the CTV's funding sources and organizational structure must also be reviewed in order to meet the funding and service demands of the long term as future funding for CTV is uncertain. The City Managers propose to report to the City Council on long term options for Fiscal Year 1994-95. Staff recommends the City Council approve an additional appropriation to the Tri-Valley Community Television Corporation for $11,279 for Fiscal Year 1993-94. Staff also recommends that the City Council direct Dublin's CTV representatives to clearly indicate that alternate funding sources must be seriously explored as future funding from cities is not guaranteed. COPIES TO: CITY CLERK FILE ~.. ITEM NO. 5.3 . I".. . '"" e December 6, 1993 The Honorable Pete Snyder and members of the Dublin City Council 100 Civic Plaza Dublin, CA 94568 Dear Mayor Snyder and Councilmembers, The Tri- Valley Community Television Corporation (CTV) requested $41,000 funding for fiscal year 1993/94 from each of the four cities that it serves. However, in adopting its 1993/94 budget, Dublin was able to commit to only $9,000, due to uncertainty surrounding the state's budget deficit. The attached letter from the CTV board of directors to the four city managers asks Dublin to consider increasing its 93/94 funding to $20,279. This is the amount that would have been requested from Dublin this year if funding were based on the number of subscribers in each of the four cities, rather than divided equally. Even if Dublin is able to increase its support to $20,279, CTV would still face a budget deficit of approximately $20,000 for fiscal year 1993/94. To close this gap, CTV proposes to shut down its production facilities from December 20 to January 3, and to reduce the number of 580/680 news productions from 4 to 3 per week for the remainder of the fiscal year. If Dublin is unable to increase its support for this year, further setvice reductions will be necessary. We have met several times over the past few months to discuss CTY's funding, and we support the CTV board of directors' proposal as a prudent and equitable compromise to resolve this year's funding reduction. We believe, however, that CTY's funding sources and organizational structure clearly need to be reviewed to determine whether they continue to meet the needs and priorities of each city, and to address future CTV funding. Staffwill continue to explore these issues, and will present recommendations to the city councils in January for consideration in each city's 1994/95 budget process. Sincerely, ?u-J~ ~ ..\- ~c0r-~ Richard Ambrose Deborah Acosta Dublin City Manager Pleasanton City Manager ,~/iu~ 1M f!l~ Lee Homer Herb Moniz 1 ';, Livermore City Manager ! San Ramon Ci~anager attachment EXHIBIT L e "' e November 12, 1993 RtCt,\Vt:O NOV 15 1993 (~\TY nr- nUBUN Lee Homer, Livermore Deborah Acosta, Pleasanton Herb Moniz, San Ramon Richard Ambrose, Dublin Dear City Managers, At your request, the CTV Board of Directors has considered specific budget cuts needed to meet the existing committed funding from the four cities. ($41,000 each from Livermore, Pleasanton, and San Ramon; $9,000 from Dublin). As described in our letter of September 27, the board considers a per-subscriber allocation to be the most equitable for future funding. Using this year's budget, per-subscriber funding would be as follows: P1easanton Livermore San Ramon Dublin $54,277 $52,915, $36,529 $20,279 The board would like to make a formal request to Dublin for additional funding. Specifically, we would request that Dublin increase its 1993-94 funding from the present $9,000 to the per- subscriber level of $20,279. We ask for your support for this request. The board further proposes that if Dublin is able to fund at the per-subscriber level, Pleasanton, Livermore, and San Ramon's 1993-94 funding remain at the $41,000 that has already been budgeted. Movement to the full per-subscriber funding is recommended for the next budget. This funding proposal leaves a 1993-94 budget deficit of $20,721. We propose the following steps to eliminate that deficit: 1. Shut down all eTV programming from December 20 to January 3 (approximately $7,000 savings). ", The board considered a full month-long shutdown, but felt that the risks of losing both employees and viewers was too great. 2. Produce 580/680 News only three times a week (approximately $12,000 savings). The news is currently produced 4 times weekly (Monday - Thursday). With this change, news would be produced on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday only. EXHIBIT d . . .- '"" It CTV has reduced costs this year by not producing "Valley Magazine" in anticipation of replacing it with city video newsletters. These savings, combined with the measures described above, will allow CTV to meet the $20,721 deficit for 1993-94. We are hopeful that the cities can agree to an equitable full-funding method (such as per- subscriber) for the 1994-95 fiscal year, allowing CTV to return to current programming levels. If Dublin is unable to provide the additional funding to reach its per-subscriber share of $20,279, the board will have to take one or more of the following additional cost-cutting measures: * Eliminate all further Dublin programming (approximately $2,700 savings). News coverage in Dublin would continue, but Dublin would not be represented on the Mayors' Report or other programming that focused on Dublin specifically. Although the savings are minimal, the board feels that further Dublin programming this year would be inequitable to the cities that have fully funded CTV. * Extend the December furlough, or cease operations for a second time during the year. * Reduce in frequency or eliminate some of the "co-funded" programs, such as Young at Heart, Everything Local, or Backstage Pass. Because some of these programs have other funding sources, the savings to the cities would not be significant. If these budget cuts become necessary, the board is concerned that they will increase the risk \ of permanently losing viewers and valuable temporary and hourly employees, thereby reducing the effectiveness of the cities' community television efforts. The board knows that you and your cities are very supportive of CTV. Furthermore, we recognize the difficult task your cities face in providing public services with declining revenues. We are confident that by working together, we can establish an equitable funding strategy for the future. Thank you for your support and consideration. line rely, -v1 ~//~ ck Noonan Chairman Tri- Valley Community Television Corporation ~5~ Charlotte Severin Vice Chair Tri- Valley Community Television Corporation cc: CTV Board members DarIa Stevens, Executive Director Chris Sherwood, Secretary.