ARCHBOLD WEATHER

No Documents To Calculate Attendance, Says Fair Board




There are no documents maintained by the Fulton County Agricultural Society, which operates the Fulton County Fair, that explain how attendance figures are calculated.

This newspaper filed a Freedom of Information request with the agricultural society, commonly called the Fair Board, seeking “a copy of any formula, calculation, computation, or worksheet, used to create, determine, establish or verify the attendance of the Fulton County Fair, both on a daily or seven day or annual basis.”

The Buckeye request also covered “Mathematical figures used in any such formula, clearly labeled by days, which were used to determine attendance figures for the Fulton County Fair, for the years 2014 and 2013.”

Requests were sent via U.S. mail to Dennis Wyse, fair board president; Lynn Kinsman, board treasurer; and Sue Whitaker, fair board secretary, on Friday, Oct. 3.

Robert Bohmer, an Archbold attorney, responded on behalf of the Fair Board.

In a telephone call, and later a letter dated Oct. 13, Bohmer said in both cases, “the Fulton County Agricultural Society has no documents responsive to this request.”

Financial

In response to another portion of the Buckeye request, the Fair Board, through Bohmer, provided copies of the annual financial reports covering several years which are filed with the Ohio Department of Agriculture.

The reports, 19 pages in length for each year, include detailed financial information, financial information related to horse racing, and information from the Junior Fair.

Based on the documents, the Fair Board operates on a Dec. 1-Nov. 30 fiscal year.

For example, Fiscal Year 2012 stretched from Dec. 1, 2012 to Nov. 30, 2013, which covered the 2013 Fulton County Fair.

The financial report was required to be filed with the ODA by Jan. 10, 2014.

For the 2012 fiscal year, the latest year for which documents are available, showed the Fair Board had total receipts of $1,530,411.74 in its operating fund, plus an additional $35,774.18 in state and local support for a total figure of $1,566,185.92.

Admissions totaling $821,877.25 made up more than 52% of the total cash receipts.

Grandstandticketswerethe largest share, at $334,117.25. Admission tickets brought in $277,921, and season ticket sales were $137,129.

Expenses

Total expenses for FY 2012 were $1,418,652.45.

The single biggest expense for the Fair Board comes under the heading of “Professional Services.” Entertainment expenses for the 2013 fair were $202,558.44.

The Fair Board paid no legal expenses in FY 2012, but the electric bill was $100,555.20.

Revenue, minus expense, left the fair with “excess cash receipts” of $111,759.29. Combined with the $453,757.08 that was cash on hand at the start of the 2012 fiscal year, the Fair Board had a total cash balance of $565,516.37 at the start of FY 2013.–David Pugh



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