City officials can't add

Friday we finally got the financials for the Erie Street Market for November and December after the City of Toledo took over the operation of this city-owned facility.

Today, The Blade has a story on the losses incurred by ESM and the article makes it clear that our city administrators need a refresher course in math.

The Market lost $7,842 in this 90-day period of time ... a time, as commenter Tim Higgins said, that should have been one of the most profitable time periods for retail outlets.

Bob Reinbolt, the mayor's chief of staff had this to say:

""It showed a negative net income, and the reason for that is we paid $5,714 in bills for CitiFest," said Robert Reinbolt, chief of staff for Mayor Carty Finkbeiner. "Then there were security costs, and part of those costs were associated with CitiFest."
...
"When you look at it, it shows loss. But in reality, it's a break-even if you don't count the CitiFest expenses," Mr. Reinbolt said."

According to my math, if the city had not paid those costs 'associted with Citifest,' the ESM still would have lost $2,128 - 11% of their total revenue. And this doesn't include the questions I raised in my earlier post about expenses which aren't listed on the 'financial' report.

And then there is the subsidy provided by the city - approximately $300,000 per year in utilities. Projecting a $306,148 profit for 2008, while continuing the utility subsidies which are NOT included in the financial statements, means the city is NOT going to make a profit on this entity.

As former District 5 Councilwoman Ellen Grachek said, "The time has come to gracefully exit, if there is such a thing, from the Erie Street Market."