It looks like another year of blood, sweat and tears for the Augusta-Richmond County Coliseum Authority, partly because the group Blood, Sweat and Tears is coming to town Friday, and ticket sales are low. On Tuesday, the authority:

DISCUSSED CONCERT PROMOTION

The civic center is promoting the show and expects to spend $70,000 on it, but with four days to go, only 252 tickets have been sold, interim Manager Linda Roberts told authority members Tuesday.

To break even, the civic center needs to sell 1,187 tickets before curtain time.

Mrs. Roberts said former Manager Robert "Flash" Gordon had been working on the show, and when he was fired in March, she inherited the job. Member Richard Isdell said he was surprised the show was being promoted in-house and didn't think any board member knew it was either. His motion passed to allow Mrs. Roberts to promote the show heavily before Friday in an effort not to lose money on a second in-house promotion. In December, the civic center lost $30,000 on the Aaron Tippen, Joe Diffie show Mr. Gordon promoted.

Mrs. Roberts said $38,000 has already been spent on the Blood, Sweat and Tears concert.

Elected New Officers

Keith Brown was elected chairman; Mr. Isdell vice chairman; Adrian Arnold, treasurer; and William Fennoy, secretary.

Mrs. Arnold, who was not at the meeting, was elected after five other members -- Jack Usry, Mr. Fennoy, Mildred McDaniel, Harry Moore and Freddie Sanders -- refused to accept the nomination. Mrs. Arnold's appointment is subject to her accepting it. If she doesn't, the board will try to fill the post at their next meeting.

In the chairman election, Booker T. Roberson nominated Mr. Sanders, and Janice Jenkins nominated Mr. Brown, who won on a 5-3 vote. Afterward, Mr. Roberson, who had lobbied for Mr. Sanders' election, said board members who had said they would vote for Mr. Sanders had "flipped" on him in the voting "390 degrees."

UNVEILED A James Brown Plaque

Mr. Isdell unveiled an 18-by-24-inch bronze plaque that will be mounted outside the arena and unveiled to the public during ceremonies tentatively set for Aug. 22. Cost: $3,800.

ADOPTED A BUDGET

At the urging of Mr. Sanders, the board unanimously voted to adopt the 2006-07 budget for 2007-08 so the authority would have a budget for the year.

Mr. Sanders said the authority was at the end of the fiscal year and still had no budget. He emphasized the board is not responsible for the budget.

"Management is responsible for getting up a budget," he said.

Mr. Sanders also pressed for financial reports that were not forthcoming Tuesday.

"There's no excuse not to have financial reports," he said, adding that some financial reports the board had received from the previous finance director had the wrong year on them.

"That's preposterous," he said.

Temporary employees are running the finance office until the authority can get a CPA firm to take over financial operations.

Mr. Sanders also said Augusta commissioners must have the civic center's audit so the city audit can be completed. He said commissioners are demanding accurate financial information from the authority and might take away authority funding if they don't get it.

Mrs. Roberts said a draft of an audit by Tabb &Tabb CPA firm of Atlanta is expected May 1.

-- Sylvia Cooper, staff writer