VANCOUVER - Vancouver may slash funds for public parties during the 2010 Games but the budget remains the same to wine and dine politicians and corporate executives.

Vancouver city council is looking at cutting $5 million from a $23 million Olympic party budget, citing trouble raising sponsorship money.

The free public parties are being planned for two downtown sites, and will feature live entertainment and television coverage of sports events for 12 hours a day during the Games.

"Given the current economic climate, staff have revised the budget to $18 million to reflect revenues confirmed to date, noting that the budget may be enhanced through additional sponsorships as well as through on-site food and beverage and merchandise sales,'' said a report going before council Tuesday.

The federal government has already contributed $10 million to the cost of the Vancouver sites, and is also funding a similar event space in Whistler, B.C.

In the same report, officials disclosed that Live Nation, the company that produced the Pemberton festival last summer, is being offered the contract to produce the events, along with U.S.-based company Five Currents.

While city officials say they haven't been able to attract as much funding as they'd hoped for the public events, they see potential for attracting future funding to Vancouver through corporate hospitality programs during the Games.

In a separate report going before city council Tuesday, officials recommend proceeding with a $2 million hospitality program for visiting politicians and corporate executives during the Games.

"The City of Vancouver can use this hosting opportunity to promote Vancouver as an inclusive, sustainable and diverse city, and to develop economic, social and cultural links and opportunities,'' says the report by the city's outgoing director of Olympic operations, Dave Rudberg.

Hospitality plans would include buying over 1,000 tickets to the Games, some of which they'd sell to other groups, and hosting as many as five daily receptions.

The city says they're hoping other government agencies will chip in for the hospitality programs, which also include events for International Olympic Committee officials and their spouses.

Officials are also looking at running a "protocol'' headquarters during the Games at a downtown Vancouver community centre.

That's on top of a planned $1.5 million "Vancouver House'' to promote the city to the public and to dignitaries.

The city has budgeted $20 million for the Games, not including funds coming from the provincial and federal governments.

The funding reports come alongside the first review by a lawyer hired to look into a leak to the media of confidential documents about the 2010 Olympic athletes' village.

In his report, Richard Peck said he feels his work should be put aside until the Vancouver police department concludes its own criminal investigation into the breach of politicians' obligations to keep closed-door meetings closed.

But he says the city needs to do better about how it handles information coming out of those kinds of meetings, including strengthening its own rules about the consequences of leaking sensitive information.