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Dear Editor:
Carmel’s Christkindlmarkt chief executive officer provided a half-report on the 2023 yuletide circus.
Prefacing her remarks by noting the markt is a non-profit, she reported a 59 percent increase in sales – $8.8 million compared to 2022’s $5.4 million.
Omitted was the fact that $7.1 million of the $8.8 million went into the pockets of the vendors.
The markt’s own annual report disclosed actual revenue of $3.1 million up 55 percent from 2022’s $2 million and $946,000 in expenses up 190 percent from 2022’s $326,000.
The alleged “non-profit” showed a two-year profit of $3.8 million (revenues $5.1 million; expenses $1.3 million).
Nor did the CEO tally taxpayer subsidies:
- Initial purchase of the plastic booths.
- Cost of labor of city workers who set up, take down and store the circus each year.
- Cost of the warehouses built to house the circus parts.
- Cost of police and utilities provided free to the markt.
- Debt service payments on money the city borrowed to pay for the circus.
For a city council recently elected on platforms promising transparency, the markt presentation demonstrated a genuine lack of seriousness.
Bill Shaffer
Carmel