2015-09-15 Infrastructure and Services Committee Att 2 to Item 4 The J Service Review 2014-15

                                                                     Service Review 2014-15
                                                                                                    The J




EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Background

The J is a Council-owned community facility located in Noosa Junction. It provides a variety of multi-
purpose spaces for community use and is also home to two anchor tenants - the University of the
Sunshine Coast (USC) and Noosa Community Radio.

While originally conceived as a Youth Facility, the purpose of The J was expanded to be a community
centre in order to attract Federal and State Government funding. Retractable theatre style seating
was installed in The J after construction in order to improve the venue’s flexibility and enhance the
experience of people attending performances at The J Theatre.

Current Service Levels

The J is a seven day week venue. Its core opening hours are 9am to 9pm Monday to Thursday; 9am
to 11pm Friday and Saturday and 9am to 5pm Sunday. It is resourced by 4.7 FTE (full time
equivalent) employees, plus two contractors – a cleaner and a lighting technician.

The J’s net operating cost for 2014/15 is $337,077 (which equates to $11.28 per rateable property).
When depreciation and corporate overheads are included, the total net cost for The J is $813,793
($27.22 per rateable property).

Comparison to similar venues in Queensland Category 4 Councils is difficult given the variation in
size, seating capacity, regional demographics etc. The best comparisons are with the Moncrieff
Theatre (Bundaberg Regional Council) and Brolga Theatre (Fraser Coast Regional Council). Of note
is that The J’s corporate overheads are $147,000 higher than Moncrieff Theatre and corporate
overheads are not charged to the Brolga Theatre. For comparison purposes a consistent application
of corporate overhead was applied, resulting in net operating costs per rateable property equating to
$12.81 and $13.77 for Moncrieff and Brolga respectively. The J’s operational (controllable) costs are
comparable with the two other regional facilities. Total net costs were $21.62 and $26.45 respectively.

For the calendar year 1 January to 31 December 2014, The J averaged 174 daily attendances. The
University of the Sunshine Coast and Hillsong Church represent 43% of these attendances and 39%
of the venue hire revenue. Having such a large percentage of attendance and revenue tied to two
users represents a significant risk for the venue which needs to be managed carefully going forward.

Management is focussed on increasing occupancy and attendances from other user groups including
the potential expansion into the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) market
through alliances with MICE Noosa.

A ticketing service is currently provided at The J. This ticketing service is available for both internal
events at The J and external events in the Shire. The external ticketing service runs at a net profit of
approximately $17,000 p.a. It is recommended that a more detailed review of ticketing options and
ticketing models be undertaken to see if the system and its profitability can be improved.




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