Although money wasn’t mentioned in the report the Sea Festival Association just submitted to the city, a top official of the organization acknowledged to The District today that it will pay the City of Long Beach at least $30,000 for the rights to hold last summer’s events along the local waterfront.

“I have good news, for a change,” said Drew Satariano, president of the Sea Festival Association Board of Governors, referring to the controversy that has swirled around the organization’s financial relationship with the city. ”The final figure should be somewhere between $30,000 and $33,000.”

The five-year contract between the Sea Festival Association and the City that was signed in 2006 mandates a rights payment this year–either $20,000 or 20 percent of the festival’s gross revenues, whichever is greater. That payment is due Dec. 1.

However, the relationship between the Association and the City historically has been characterized by very sloppy bookkeeping, not to mention ethics. For example, the 2006 contract was actually approved by the City Council in 2005. Then City Manager Jerry Miller and Sea Festival Association CEO Chris Pook simply never signed it at all–inaction which allowed the Association to avoid paying the City any money last year, despite using city facilities, employees and money to fund its activities. Additionally, private sponsorships were sought from some companies that were also seeking to do business with the city, creating the potential for shakedowns.

Consequently, suspicion was aroused when the Sea Festival Association’s official 2007 report, which was delivered to City Manager Pat West several days before its release to the media Monday, raved about the festival’s success but did not include information about the rights payment.

“We’re still crunching the numbers because the payment is based on a percentage of revenues,” Satariano explained when contacted by The District. “But we are very aware that the payment is due by December 1.”

Whether the final number is $30,000 or $33,000, it will represent only a fraction of the estimated $200,000 in taxpayer money that the city and its agencies spent on  in the 2007 Sea Festival. However, one of the goals of the Sea Festival is to become self-supporting by 2011, and Satariano cited the forthcoming payment as a step in that direction.

“We feel good about it,” he said.

Meanwhile, Long Beach City Auditor Laura Doud continues working on a complete review of the Sea Festival Association’s finances and its relationship with the city. Doud’s office declined to comment about the rights payment revealed Tuesday.

“That issue is part of the audit, and we don’t discuss an audit until it is final,” said spokeswoman Olivia Maiser. “The expected release date for that is sometime in January 2008.”

Tags: , Chris Pook, Drew Satariano, Laura Doud, Long Beach, Sea Festival