Decision on city financing for the Ironman competition tabled by Redding City Council
The council’s decision followed a tense discussion on financial spending. The item will be brought back into discussion on Feb. 17. An Ironman official says he’s not concerned about the delay.
The Redding City Council has pushed off an agenda item to help fund the upcoming Ironman competition until February, effectively tabling a decision that would provide necessary resources to hold the event.
The decision made during Tuesday’s meeting was preceded by a tense debate about finances and the current state of the city’s revenue, which resulted in the council pushing a previously-planned revenue discussion, as well as the item to provide funding for the Ironman, to Feb. 17.
Throughout the rest of the meeting, council members Tenessa Audette and Erin Resner often voiced their hesitancy to fund other items on the meeting’s agenda, including the Ironman and a potential subsidy for the Civic Auditorium, because they said it was important to identify where the city stands in terms of revenue before making spending decisions.
The council already made a commitment back in October to partner with Choose Redding — the tourism group that has a contract with the Ironman organization to bring the race to Redding — to financially cover some aspects of the event. But Tuesday was the first time council members were presented with specific numbers on how much they would need to spend to help fund the event, which is scheduled to be held in Redding each August for the next three years.
The council could appropriate $95,000 in fiscal year 2026 to support the triathlon event, according to a memorandum of understanding between the city and Redding Tourism Marketing Group, Inc. — the entity that operates Choose Redding — which was presented on Tuesday. That sum, which will come from the city’s own coffers, is currently slated to be allocated to the city’s Public Works and Community Services departments to help with preparation and services for the Ironman event.
After specific numbers were presented to the council Tuesday, Resner raised concern about the money proposed to be allocated toward Community Services — a total of $40,000 — stating that since that money isn’t already included in the department’s budget, it would need to be taken from other projects in that department, or taken from the general fund instead.
Audette referred to the council’s earlier decision to push revenue discussions to later, explaining that since budget talks have been delayed, “we should be delaying any type of appropriations or any type of spending in the general fund.”
“Not only do we not have a plan, we don’t even have a clear view of where we sit today and how far off the mark we actually are,” Audette said, referring to actual revenue numbers as compared to prior projections. “We just know we’re off the mark.”
The council voted to bring the Ironman funding back into discussion on Feb. 17, the same meeting where revenue discussions will take place.
After Tuesday’s meeting, Mayor Mike Littau told Shasta Scout that the council has already made a financial commitment to provide funding for the Ironman, and that this item is a way for the council to formally make that commitment by specifically designating where the money will come from. He said he’s very confident that the funding item will pass at an upcoming meeting because of the many benefits the race will bring to the city.
The city’s MOU also shows that if approved, the city would be committed to spending additional money for the race event over future years, including $128,000 per year in fiscal years 2027 and 2028 and $73,000 in 2029. That money would be spent on various entities, including police and fire department costs and shuttle services.
During the council meeting, city staff brought up the concern that delaying the approval of city funds going toward the Ironman — which about 800 people have already signed up for, according to the Ironman organization — might harm the contract between the organization and Choose Redding. However, Ironman Regional Manager of the Pacific Northwest Tim Brosious told Shasta Scout that the organization is not worried about its contract with Choose Redding and that a delay won’t affect the contract at this time.
“We’ve got a wonderful relationship with that team and have full confidence in them and the community,” Brosious said.
Do you have information or a correction to share? Email us: editor@shastascout.org.
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Events like this bring lots of people to REDDING and will greatly increase the amount of money collected from the TOT. I’m confident the council will allocate the money, but I’m sorry the revenue discussion did not take place. Everybody’s working hard to get things in order.
It won’t though.
There are ~1800 hotel rooms in Redding that typically run around 60% occupancy. So at best you’re looking at an extra ~700 hotel bookings for 2 nights with a 12% TOT at a ~$150/night cost — or ~$25,000 in additional tax revenue against an average annual cost of $106,000.
To make up the $81,000 shortfall via sales taxes, every triathlete/family would need to spend over $3,000 on taxable items in Redding. Not happening…
Santa Rosa estimated an extra $17-20million in economic activity for each year they hosted full and half Ironmans. It cost them ~$300,000 annually. While their chamber of commerce made a big deal about how beneficial that was, the city opted not to continue hosting the events suggesting the city didn’t actually recover 1.5-2% of that supposed extra economic activity…
I’ve said it before but it bears repeating. Ever since private equity bought out Ironman they’ve become a parasitic organization benefiting only themselves.
It is activities like this that will encourage out of towners to spend a lot of money in hotels, restaurants, visits to downtown all of which everyone knows. Is there a way to encourage a partnership among th the major players and the City and County to provide funding?
Those who stand to benefit should foot the bill. The tax should not be broad-based, but levied only on the hospitality industry.