By: Diane Benjamin
https://www.normalil.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/4698
Another $1,050 in performance fees for Make Music Normal are on PDF page 11. That brings the total to over $37,000, not including staff time. https://blnnews.com/2023/07/05/how-much-did-normal-charge-you-for-make-music-normal/
There are lots of other performance fees listed the taxpayers get charged for. Call it government approved entertainment.
A reader FOAI’d the performance fee for the drag show – $1,500.
There isn’t much interesting except this: See PDF page 33. Do the bids make sense?
Those bids show just how much government jobs are typically overcharged, thanks largely in part to unions. It also highlights the incompetence and indifference of the “professional staff” to negotiate a better price. I predict that Garneau will be harassed by the union and embarrassed town staff enough that they will never bid on government work again.
This seems like say a landscaper who charges a 50% premium because they know they can or a car dealer tacks on a “market adjustment” above MSRP. Great for those companies or businesses, but on the flip side, when times are tough, people will remember that and people will not feel for them when the demand dries up.