Pasadena Center Operating Co. Scheduled to Present Budget To City Council Monday

The Pasadena Center Operating Company will present an optimistic picture for fiscal year 2022 to the City Council at its  budget hearing Monday, projecting a strong third and fourth quarter.

The meeting is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. Monday.

The Pasadena Convention Center and Civic Auditorium will fully reopen for public events on Tuesday. The first half of fiscal year 2022 starting July 1 will feature small meetings, consumer shows and tradeshows. Business is expected to boom in January and beyond in 2022 with larger consumer shows, corporate meetings and several conventions.

The Pasadena Ice Skating Center reopened on April 26 and is already seeing business return to pre-pandemic levels. Hotel occupancies and rates also continue to increase.

“We are doing everything possible to bring back tourism and convention business to our community,” said City Councilmember Tyron Hampton, board chair of the PCOC. “We have 14 citywide conventions booked for the year which will generate close to 20,000 hotel room nights. New events are being added daily and we feel confident the future is bright for the PCOC and the Pasadena hospitality community.”

Due to the pandemic, the PCOC will lose $9 million, which includes a Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) shortfall of $7.1 million in fiscal year end 2021, according to statement released on Sunday. The PCOC will self-finance these losses using its rainy-day reserve funds.

Back in 1983, the city established the use of  TOT to preserve the city-owned asset and stabilize the PCOC and its critical role in bringing consistent overnight visitors and infusing their dollars into the local community.

In 2006, the City Council unanimously approved the use of TOT funds to finance the expansion and modernize the Pasadena Convention Center, which opened in 2009. In 2016, the amount of TOT allocated to the PCOC was capped to cover only the debt service for the expansion of the Convention Center, plus an additional $500,000 annually for maintenance, repairs and capital improvements to the city-owned facility. The remainder of TOT goes to the city’s general fund.

The PCOC has successfully reduced expenses over the past 15 months at the Convention Center, the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, the Pasadena Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Pasadena Ice Skating Center by more than $7.6 million. The company put away money over the course of 10 years into its emergency fund in case of major disruptions to operations. The pandemic has made it necessary to use these funds.

“We’re optimistic about the next fiscal year for the Pasadena Center Operating Co. Though this has been an unprecedented year, we see a path to recovery,” said Michael Ross, CEO of PCOC. “We have a strong team in place that has been working hard through the pandemic in preparation and is ready to meet the challenges ahead. And we have a robust tourism recovery plan to support our hotels, restaurants, retail and cultural institutions.”

For 15 months, business at the Convention Center and Civic Auditorium was devastated by state regulations that prohibited most indoor gatherings including more than 300 scheduled events. The Convention Center was able to host some essential events, including the L.A. County Vote Center for the Presidential Elections; city essential interview and testing events; jury empanelment; filming and television productions such as “America’s Got Talent,” commercials for Buick, Evian, and a TBS show.

The PCOC was scheduled to make its presentation last week, but due to time constraints the presentation was held off until this week. Presentations by the Transportation Department and the Pasadena Community Access Corp. were also rescheduled to Monday which will include a full schedule, including presentations by the Water and Power, Planning, Public Works and Fire departments.