Rotorua ratepayers were fleeced

Stuff reports:

One of the organisers of the controversial Mudtopia festival has admitted the company established to run the event is being closed – but he denies the move was aimed at pre-empting future legal action.

Scott Rice, who co-ran Event Engines with Simon Brady, confirmed the closure to Stuff in the wake of calls by two Rotorua councillors for an independent forensic audit into the failed event which cost $1,681,814 to stage and lost $600,238.

That around $25 per household in Rotorua.

An Official Information Request shed new light on the finances around the festival, revealing the directors were paid $397,996 to run the event.

They were paid $400,000 to run a mud festival!!

The figures also revealed $77,040 was spent on social media, $10,050 on public relations and $128,654 on advertising and marketing.

Almost $80,000 on social media is a huge amount. I’d love to see the return on spend – bet you it was minuscule.

Brown said 14,000 people attended the festival and that from a ‘festival experience view point’, “the event could be considered a success”.

Well it cost over $100 per attendee. But it’s worse than that,

But the festival only sold 1500 tickets, 12,000 tickets were given away to residents and 3000 to sponsors and suppliers.

So actually it cost over $1,000 per paid ticket!