The City of Soldotna on Wednesday approved the use of up to $25,000 in federal grant funds to support an outdoor community theater production this summer. Citing Triumvirate Theatre’s successful production of “The Little Mermaid” last summer in Soldotna Creek Park, council member Justin Ruffridge, who sponsored the legislation, said the show is an opportunity to bring the community together.

“The goal of this is to really test the waters to see if this is something that can be done in the future, because it would be just an incredible opportunity for our community and for our children in our community to perform,” Ruffridge said. Ruffridge participates in community theater locally.

In all, Triumvirate Theatre expects this summer’s production of Disney’s “Tarzan” to cost just over $67,000, and it asked the city to chip in. Triumvirate Executive Director Joe Rizzo told council members Wednesday that much of the money will go to pay for staff, such as an orchestra director and someone to run the production full time.

“The public, in general, doesn’t realize how much a major musical production costs,” Rizzo said. “I think they think that you can just kind of throw it together. Nothing is free.”

Ruffridge’s resolution requested that the city use $25,000 from what it received through the American Rescue Plan Act, which passed in 2021 and through which the City of Soldotna received about $1.14 million. The city received half of that amount last year and will get the second half this year under federal guidelines.

Soldotna City Manager Stephanie Queen said Wednesday that the city has not spent any of its American Rescue Plan money yet, but that the guidelines and timeline are much looser than for the CARES Act program. The city has expended all of its CARES Act dollars, Queen said.

Triumvirate’s 2021 production of “The Little Mermaid” was similarly funded through money the City of Soldotna received under the federal CARES Act. Under the resolution approved Wednesday, the City of Soldotna’s $25,000 contribution will be offset by any donations received from patrons this summer.

Between April and May of 2021, the City of Soldotna, in partnership with the Alaska Community Foundation, made CARES Act money available through the Soldotna Coronavirus Nonprofit Relief Fund Grants. According to the city’s “Summary of COVID Relief Projects & Programs” publication, under that program, individual grant awards were capped at $100,000.

Soldotna Mayor Paul Whitney said during Wednesday’s city council meeting that he wouldn’t vote in support of the additional funds for the group’s 2022 production because the city did not make a grant program available to other nonprofits in the community, as it did with CARES Act money. Whitney also said approving money this time may prompt other groups to come forward with their own requests for money from the city.

“I see nothing wrong with having the event, it was the process we went through to possibly fund it,” Whitney said of the resolution.

In response to concerns that more entities would come forward with funding requests, Ruffridge said the $25,000 is meant to mitigate Triumvirate’s risk and that the city could pay nothing if “Tarzan” raises enough in donations to cover the cost of the show.

“This is not funding a nonprofit, this is not a grant to a business, this is just saying, ‘This is something we value,’” Ruffridge said. “It was a great event last year and it will not happen again without a municipality or some other entity taking on a ‘We’ve got your back approach.’”

A key feature of the show, Ruffridge added, is that attendance is free. Council member Linda Farnsworth-Hutchings asked Rizzo why Triumvirate couldn’t sell tickets for the show, as it has done with productions elsewhere in the state. Rizzo said if Triumvirate sells tickets for a show like “Tarzan,” which belongs to Disney, the theater group would have to pay royalties just to put the play on.

“We just did ‘The Sound of Music’ up in the (Matanuska-Susitna) Valley and it was $12,000 just for the rights to do ‘The Sound of Music,’” Rizzo said.

He added that a benefit of holding shows in Soldotna Creek Park is that Triumvirate will not have to spend money to rent an auditorium space.

Council member Dan Nelson, who attended Wednesday’s meeting remotely, said he supports the arts, but that a cumulative city contribution of $80,000 between the two productions is “a very expensive ask.”

“​​To me what it feels like, even though it’s a very, very worthy cause, is that the City of Soldotna — even if it’s not, you know, tax money that we collected directly … we’re essentially being asked to be the bank to take that risk,” Nelson said. “And I feel very uncomfortable with that.”

The council ultimately voted 4-2 to support the legislation. The deciding vote came from Soldotna Vice Mayor Lisa Parker, who said she would support the donation “this time.” Even though the money used does not come from the city’s general fund, Parker said, federal dollars still ultimately come from city taxpayers.

“I hope that as we move forward … we’re not setting ourselves up to be a cash cow for all the groups out there,” Parker said.

Soldotna’s full Wednesday’s council meeting can be viewed on the city’s website at soldotna.org.

Reach reporter Ashlyn O’Hara at ashlyn.ohara@peninsulaclarion.com.