By Gregory Korte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

DOWNTOWN - The 2003 Tall Stacks Music, Arts & Heritage Festival drew a record crowd of 800,000 people downtown over five days last October but will still likely lose money, organizers said.

The Tall Stacks Commission owes the city of Cincinnati $311,000 for police and fire overtime. That bill was due the beginning of the month, a city spokeswoman said.

In addition, the commission owes about $200,000 to the operators of the 17 riverboats that traveled up the Ohio River for the event.

Tall Stacks Chairman Peter D. Gomsak Jr. said the balance sheet shouldn't be the only measure of the event's success.

"Despite the tremendous success of Tall Stacks, we met all our goals, but the financial goals were not met," Gomsak said. "Having said that, we are a not-for-profit organization. We do this for love of the event and for what it does for the community. We're not here to make a profit."

The current problem, he said, is with cash flow.

The event had contracts with concessionaires that required the vendors to pay Tall Stacks a percentage of their revenues. But the amount owed to Tall Stacks is still in dispute, and the event hasn't yet collected. Gomsak would not elaborate on who those vendors are.

City officials said they will meet with Tall Stacks soon to work out a repayment plan. But any attempt to ask the city forgive that debt probably won't be well received by City Council, which approved a $200,000 city sponsorship and spent an additional $40,000 to spruce up Bicentennial Commons at Sawyer Point for the event.

"I expect them to pay it. I expect us to go through whatever legal process to make sure they paid it," said Finance Committee Chairman John Cranley.

"I'm not saying we should sue them tomorrow. But we should make it clear: We expect to get paid. These are our friends. It was an amazing success. It was a great program. But we need to hold them accountable."

If the problem is that Tall Stacks hasn't been paid money it's owed, he said, "then they should take legal action against their vendors."

Gomsak said he would like to discuss "getting some relief" from the city's safety charges, but he's prepared to pass the hat if necessary.

"We have people who believe in this event and have been willing to step up to support it," he said. "I don't think the taxpayers should be worried at all."

Gomsak said organizers learned some lessons from 2003. The addition of musical acts to the event drew a larger and younger audience, but the event also stopped charging daily admission in favor of a $10, five-day pass.

In retrospect, Gomsak said, the passes were far too cheap.

Another problem: taking the city sponsorship meant that Tall Stacks was required to pay time-and-a-half overtime - plus benefits - to police and firefighters, increasing the public safety costs by 50 percent.

But Gomsak said those costs bring tangible benefits. A study commissioned by Tall Stacks put the economic impact of the 2003 event at $48.5 million - up from $30 million in 1999.

That's one reason why the commission is already exploring the possibility of future festivals. While the riverboat visits would likely remain a quadrennial event, the music and entertainment on the Ohio River could become an annual occurrence, Gomsak said.

E-mail gkorte@enquirer.com