The Fortuna River Lodge. Photo from city website.


PREVIOUSLY

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Last night, the Fortuna City Council, forced to consider selling the Fortuna River Lodge to offset the city’s systemic budget issues, decided they’d research leasing it to a third-party operator instead. 

Fortuna’s in a bad place, financially. Sales and hotel tax revenues have plummeted over the last few years, while the price of liability and health insurance has skyrocketed. The city’s taking a hit to its General Fund; the city is spending $550,000 on a state-mandated General Plan update next fiscal year, putting $40,000 towards purchasing a new phone system, and shelling out an extra $200,000 for police department salary increases. 

Bridging the $1.8 million gap between where the city’s finances were projected to be several years ago and where they actually are may prove difficult. The council instituted a hiring freeze last year (though they made some exceptions to hire an emergency dispatcher and an economic developer), leaving two positions unfilled. However, those savings aren’t close to covering the difference; the city needs another $500,000 in reductions to balance the General Fund’s operating budget. The budget for the next fiscal year is due June 30.

At a well-attended public budget workshop last night, Fortuna’s Finance Director Aaron Felmlee shared some strategies city staff had come up with to absorb some of the monetary impacts. Some of them were fairly anodyne (continue the hiring freeze), but a few proposals inspired resistance: many public commenters and a few of the city council members said they were saddened that they even had to think about selling the Fortuna River Lodge or closing the Fortuna Depot Museum for a large chunk of the year.

Maintaining and staffing the lodge is expensive. The city spent $470,000 from the General Fund on its operations last year, and only made $194,000 back.  That pattern is typical; since 2021, the city has spent about $1 million more on the lodge than it made back. Felmlee said he estimated that the city would have to charge renters $2,880 per day to make ends meet. Currently, it charges an average of $1,356. He said he didn’t think most people would be willing to pay more than double the current rate to use the lodge. 

To offset the costs, Felmlee proposed “eliminating” the River Lodge Manager. Fortuna paid the current manager, Jennifer Lourenzo, $54,000 plus benefits in 2024, according to government data. The frozen coordinator position paid about $17,000 annually. City staff suggested leasing the building to another government agency, or even selling it outright, though that idea was shot down by the council almost immediately.

“I don’t want to sell it,” councilmember Tami Trent said. “I don’t even want to look at that option. I’m hoping we can get back on our feet. I don’t even want to lease it, personally.”

“It is a landmark,” Mayor Mike Johnson said. “It’s a unique facility, the only one of its kind, and it should stay owned by Fortuna. Hopefully we can come to some agreement with another agency or group and keep its operations going, and get something back out of it.”

Felmlee said the measures would save the city $180,000. The city voted unanimously to research leasing it.

The city’s public transit for seniors and disabled people is another headache. Fortuna is being given less transit funding from the Humboldt County Association of Governments than in past years, almost $200,000 less than in 2021. The city is holding off on hiring a full-time transit supervisor, but even without that, it costs the city an average of $43 every time someone rides the bus. Felmlee projected that increasing operational expenses combined with flatlining revenues will result in an $80,000 deficit in 2030, though next year the budget is balanced.

The council voted to ask HTA to take a look at their transit system and, potentially, operate its Dial-A-Ride system in Fortuna. Trent voted “no” on the resolution.

But the item that generated the most discussion was the prospective closure of the Fortuna Depot Museum. The museum, open year-round, costs about $30,000 to run, most of that for a part-time curator position. The finance department suggested closing it from October to April every year, and to pay the curator with donations made to the museum. 

The museum is open four days a week during the winter hours, but during the peak tourism season in the summer, it’s open every day. Multiple public commenters and council members railed against the idea of closing the museum or cutting the hours. 

“Our Depot Museum is a hidden gem, right in the center of our community,” said Ruth Dekat, a member of the city’s historical commission. “To close it even for short periods of time would mean a death sentence, because eventually, we would say, ‘Well, we lived without it for six months. We can live without it for another such period of time,’ and then eventually it would go away. That’s what makes me sad about this whole thing.”

Curator Alexandra Service also addressed the council. She’s worked at the museum since 2009; Mayor Johnson called her a “walking encyclopedia” of Fortuna’s history. She said people come in year-round for all kinds of reasons, such as genealogical research or fact-finding about a house or a building they’re purchasing. It’s a community resource, she said, and it would be worse off without the museum. 

City Manager Amy Nilsen said the museum was “unique.” Many cities don’t fund their local museums directly, and she said it may be difficult to keep the museum open long-term. The council decided to wait on deciding its fate until May. 

All of the staff and councilmembers said they hated considering gutting of some of their cherished community resources, but understood the necessity. 

“I understand the sentiment of the council that these are really difficult decisions, because they are,” Nilsen said. “Aaron [Felmlee, finance director] and I spent hours and hours going through this budget with the department heads, trying to figure out where there was room to make cuts. And it’s painful, because we’re at the point now where the cuts — they hurt to some degree, right? They’re difficult for you to make, it’s difficult for staff to make those recommendations.”

“We got to start someplace, sometime,” Johnson said. “But it’s not going to get any easier.”