Hobart City Council votes to decrease its Taste of Tasmania funding
UPDATED: The Hobart City Council has voted on its future funding for the Taste of Tasmania.
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FUNDING for the Taste of Tasmania has been secured for the next three years but it has been significantly slashed from the $1.6 million budget it had this year.
On Monday night, the council unanimously endorsed a three-year commitment to the festival with a scaled reduction in funding from $1.1 million to $1 million the following year and $900,000 in the third year.
Council general manager Nick Heath revealed he had received a call from Premier Will Hodgman’s office suggesting some sort of funding will likely be made available but the exact amount would not be known until May when the State Budget is announced.
Councillor Bill Harvey was hopeful the State Government would be generous to a festival that had enormous value to Tasmania.
“This is one of the best festivals in the country,” Cr Harvey said.
“The past two years have been excellent and looking forward what we have here is a lot of stability.”
He said the recommendation tells sponsors the council was open for business and keen for a long-term relationship with sponsors.
An amendment for the council to see if anyone wanted to take over the event after next year’s festival through an expression of interest process was removed.
The cuts come as an SGS economics and planning report showed the 2018-19 festival generated $46.9 million into the Tasmanian economy, with the bulk of that — $26.8 million — going to Hobart.
But the report also showed only 21 per cent of visitors to the Taste were from Hobart as interstate visitors increased and the festival had become a strong tourist destination.
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The council has requested a State Government grant of $250,000 to $500,000 for each year, which the Government says it will consider.
Tasmanian Speaker Sue Hickey, a former Hobart lord mayor, says she has spoken with the Premier and Treasurer Peter Gutwein about providing extra cash to the Taste because she believed it was a great contributor to the state’s economy.
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