Champagne, Tuxedos, Party . . . and a Profit, Too : Thousand Oaks: City makes $11,000 on the grand opening bash for performing arts center. A donation of $75,000 went untouched.

Usually throwing a party entails throwing some money down the drain. Food, drinks, party hats--it all adds up.

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With that in mind, Thousand Oaks anticipated it would lose about $17,000 on the grand opening bash for the Charles E. Probst Performing Arts Center last fall.

Instead, the city turned a small--but welcome--profit on the three-day event. Not only did Thousand Oaks make $11,000 on ticket sales and such, it did so without spending $75,000 the City Council donated from the Civic Arts Plaza’s general construction fund specifically for the gala.

“Generally when you have an opening ceremony it costs you money,” said theater director Tom Mitze. “That is why the city allocated that $75,000. It turned out we didn’t need it. So we’re delighted.”

That leaves City Council members to decide Tuesday on how to spend not only the $11,000 profit, but also the $75,000 they donated. Ideas range from buying computers to acquiring a piece of ridgeline.

City officials are still working on a full financial report for the performing arts center’s first year, which should be completed in the next few weeks.

The October opening included performances by Bernadette Peters, the Conejo Symphony Orchestra, a big band and several local choirs. For two nights, spotlights lit up the sky, and tuxedos and formal gowns were de rigueur in Thousand Oaks.

Champagne flowed throughout the weekend and city officials rolled out the red carpet for local politicians, critics and residents who shelled out a total of $252,000 for tickets to the events.

According to a financial report released Friday, sales of the sponsorship banners that lined Thousand Oaks Boulevard and trinkets bearing the center’s Exuberant Muse logo were more than five times what theater officials had anticipated. Those sales brought in an extra $24,000.

The city spent about half what it had planned in salaries for the weekend, another contributor to the surprise profits.

“Those were all estimates,” said Bob Biery, the city’s finance director.

The fervor of excitement about the opening helped, as city staffers willingly volunteered their time, he said.

“Nobody was ordered to work, but people just got swept up in it,” Biery said.

On Tuesday, the City Council will vote on what to do with the $11,000 surplus. Mitze suggested that it be used for computer purchases and graphic equipment for brochures and newspaper ads.

As for the unused $75,000 gift, the council could vote to leave it in the construction budget. Or members could agree to also use it for capital improvements.

Councilwoman Elois Zeanah said she plans to ask her colleagues to use the $75,000 for a very different purpose at Tuesday’s meeting: buying a piece of potential open space owned by a Jim Kallas, a former Cal Lutheran professor.

Kallas has complained that the city’s tough restrictions have made it impossible for him to build on his land, a striking five-acre parcel on the Mount Clef ridgeline. City officials have batted around the idea of buying the land from him, and the last price discussed was $85,000.

Conveniently for Zeanah, the issue of the Kallas property is also on Tuesday’s agenda. She said she could justify using the leftover $75,000 from the gala for the land purchase because part of the $64-million construction budget for the Civic Arts Plaza came from park funds which might have been used to fund open space acquisition.

“I want this $75,000 to repay part of the park funds,” Zeanah said. “Then we’re only $10,000 short, which can be found from other funds.”