The Daily Citizen, Dalton, GA

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February 4, 2010

A better aroma at the center

There are good things cooking on the slopes of Dug Gap Mountain just west of I-75, and it isn’t all coming from the kitchens of the new chef at the Northwest Georgia Trade and Convention Center.

While trade center officials certainly hope that Scott Pardo’s tasty creations will lure more people to the center, they aren’t putting all of their eggs in Pardo’s basket.

In fact, if the trade center can sustain the momentum that it appears to have built going into the new year, 2010 could be shaping up as a very good year indeed for a facility that is badly in need of some good PR.

According to figures released last week at the monthly meeting of the trade center’s governing authority, the center started the year with almost $200,000 more in bookings than it started 2009 with.

While that doesn’t guarantee that the center will end 2010 with higher earnings, the year-over-year increase in the bookings suggests that the changes that have been made there might be starting to build value.

In particular, board members credit Global Spectrum, the management company that took over trade center operations last year, with helping to bring in more business.

“This is something that we as a board, and I think the entire community, should be very pleased with,” Harvey Neal, trade center authority chairman, said at last week’s meeting.

The larger problem that the entire community has to face is that despite this good news, the trade center continues, and most likely will continue, to lose money.

According to its own figures, the trade center ended 2009 with a net loss of $1.024 million, greater than the anticipated loss of $782,224, due largely to lower than expected revenue. Trade center expenses were well below what had been budgeted, $1.983 million compared to $2.619 million, but operating income was also below budget, $958,452 compared to $1.838 million.

While we hope that the center’s operating income will climb as new events are booked, trade, convention and civic centers rarely break even. Municipalities across the country subsidize these centers because they enhance the quality of life in their communities and bring in people and events that they otherwise wouldn’t have.

The city of Dalton and Whitfield County currently give about $487,000 each in operating funds to the center. Will that figure ever drop to zero?

Probably not.

Can it get lower?

With good management and more events, yes it can.

Remember, as nice as it would be for the center to operate without a public subsidy, that isn’t likely to happen based on the past history of these facilities.

But the center can be an important part of the growth of Dalton and Whitfield County, and any progress in that direction is welcomed news indeed.

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