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Public/Private Partnership |
In 1998, the City of New York awarded the Central Park Conservancy a management contract that ensured the continuing maintenance, public programming, and capital restoration of Central Park. This contract confirmed the City's confidence in its nearly twenty-year partnership with the Conservancy. Both the Conservancy and the City of New York had invested nearly $350 million in Central Park operations, capital improvements, programs for visitors and volunteers, and endowment; it also had played an increasingly active role in Park management. Under this agreement, the Conservancy receives an annual fee for services. The amount of the fee was determined by a formula that requires the Conservancy to raise and spend a specified minimum amount of private funds in the Park on an annual basis. The minimum Conservancy annual expenditure — which can include maintenance, programming and landscape improvements — is $5 million. The annual fee from the City depends on the Conservancy's expenditures in the Park and on the revenues generated by concessions in Central Park.On April 27, 2006, the contract was renewed for another eight years. The new contract maintains the City's baseline allocation for the maintenance of the Park, but it lifts the cap on the amount of funding the Conservancy receives based on concession revenues generated in the Park. Under the previous contract, the Conservancy received an amount equal to 50% of concession revenues beyond the first $6 million generated in the Park, not to exceed $2 million. As more of the Park is restored and the cost of caring for it continues to grow, removing this cap will ensure that the Park will continue to benefit from increasing revenues that are directly related to its successful management. Click here for more information on the Conservancy's contract with the City of New York. |
