City Commissioners voted unanimously during their Sept. 3 meeting to approve new fees for the Mansfield Center for the Performing Arts.
No one offered comment during the public hearing on the proposed fee increases.
The fees were last adjusted in 2014 and 2015. Those resolutions authorized Mansfield staff to evaluate their facility and ticketing fees on an annual basis and implement an annual inflationary increase to their fees if necessary, according to city staff.
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The inflationary increase would be calculated using data from the Consumer Price Index, U.S. city average, all urban consumers, as published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor, according to the city staff report. The last time an adjustment was made was 2015. Since then, according to the CPI, there’s been a 8.07 increase in average prices.
Staff recommended new fees to account for inflation and the proposal raised room rental rates an average of 8 percent. The proposal increased the ticket convenience fee from $2 to $4 per ticket if a customer purchases a ticket online. The fee does not apply to tickets purchased in person at the box office.
The current and newly adopted rates are:
- Rainbow Room: $60 to $75, a 25 percent increase
- Gibson Room: $225 to $250, an 11.1 percent increase
- Commission Chambers: $250, no recommended increase
- Missouri Room: $500 to $600, a 20 percent increase
- Convention Center without alcohol: $1,395 to $1,495, a 6.4 percent increase
- Convention Center with alcohol and less than 500 people: $1,725 to $1,795, a 7.1 percent increase
- Convention Center with alcohol and more than 500 people: $1,950 to $1,995, a 2.3 percent increase
- Mansfield Theater ticketed events: $950 minimum, no proposed increase
- Mansfield Theater non-ticketed events: $1,145 to $1,195, a 4.3 percent increase
The commission also approved the following changes:
- Removal of the associated “ticketing requirement” for Convention Center usage or rental except for concerts and sporting events;
- Establishment of a $50 charge for projector use in the Chambers and Gibson rooms. Currently, there’s no fee associated with this equipment usage in these rooms and the revenue will be used to upgrade the current projectors and the cost for set-up and tear down of the equipment;
- Approve the creation of a new “wedding package fee” that includes use of the theater stage in conjunction with another room. The fee would be $500 plus labor;
- Reduce the portable projector rental fee from $150 to $75.
According to the city staff report, the recommendation to increase ticketing convenience fees is to recoup associated costs.
City staff looked at inflation as well as comparable venues in the region.
According to staff’s research, ticketing fees per each ticket are:
- Expo Park: $12
- Metra Park: $13.50
- The Wilma: $16.92
- Alberta Bair: $5.00
- Casper Events Center: $10
Staff estimated the revenue from increased room rental fees would be more than $5,300 and the increased ticket convenience fee would generate $15,000 to $25,000.
The Mansfield Advisory Board approved the recommended changes during October 2018 and January 2019 meetings.
