Lack of fee schedule poses planning problems
Event planning in the City of Greenville has experienced some delays as a committee works to develop an event request form.
Mayor Errick D. Simmons has repeatedly said developing a form fair to all organizations is important.
“The committee is researching other municipalities’ event policies and fee schedules to make sure Greenville establishes sound policies and is able to assess fees that are fair to everyone and that generate funds to offset the cost of the city when events are held.”
Simmons said the cost of events to the city affect police, fire and public works department budgets.
“We want to encourage festivals. We understand our area benefits economically from tourism,” Simmons said. “Events cost the city, now the question we need to ask is how much does the event help if hotels are full, and people are eating and shopping? Not every event stimulates spending or books hotel rooms. Community events are important as well, but we need to make sure that fees assessed consider the purpose of the event and other factors.”
Simmons said taking the time to prepare policies and the event request form is important.
“It needs to be done right the first time, so that the rules and fees are fair to everyone,” he said. “We no not want to come back to the table granting waivers for one event and then not another. We need to develop the fee schedule and policies and stick with it. So determining what to recommend to the council for approval is being thoroughly researched and reviewed to address all aspects.”
At the council’s May 7 meeting, Camille Collins requested all fees be waived for the Dragon Boat Race, scheduled for Sept. 7 at Schelben Park, North Lakefront Road on Lake Ferguson.
The request was made to waive fees because the event attracts people to Greenville who book hotels, eat at local dining establishments and shop in the area.
Councilman Bill Boykin posed questions to Simmons and the council about the request.
“What will you do about other requests?” he asked. “There are other people who have come to me and said, ‘If you approve that one, will you approve the other one?’ Are we going to waive all those fees from here on out?”
Simmons said the council has a precedent of waiving fees for events depending on the economic impact.
“At this time, the event form and associated fees are not complete,” Simmons said, noting waiving the fees for police officers and other city costs associated with the event could not be approved at this time.
“It has been noted three times that the form not being available is an issue,” Simmons said. “We need to get that form out of committee, but we need a decision now on approving the event so it can be planned.”
Andy Sanders, representing the Mississippi River Marathon, also appeared before the council and requested costs.
“We want to make sure we know how much so we can set our cost and plan” Sanders said.
Again, Simmons said the fee schedule and event form was not available.
“The committee decided to hold that form for various reasons,” he said.
During the April 12 council meeting, Collins made a request on behalf of Deep South Racing.
“We put this event on last year for the first time, and it was a better turn out than we expected,” she said. “We anticipate this year being even bigger.”
Collins requested fee waivers because of the economic impact the event may have.
“We are asking for the waivers because those funds should offset be the tax revenue generated as a result of the event,” Collins said. “We are looking at 60 to 65 boots. This boat race brought in people from all over, from L.A. to Alabama and states including California, Texas and our neighboring states.
As a result of the developing policies and forms, the council voted to approve the date and location of the event but was unable to approve waiving fees.
Collins said plans to donate a portion of event funds to the police department for bullet proof vests have been made.
Councilman Al Brock questioned assessing event fees for an event that would directly benefit the city.
“I don’t see how, if they are raising funds for our police department, how we could charge,” Brock said.
Simmons said nonprofit organizations and fundraisers which benefit the city or charities is something that needs to be considered for policy development and fee assessment.
“We need it to be fair,” Simmons said. “We want to encourage investment and bringing people in and increase activity. But the process needs to be the same for everyone.”
Simmons said in addition to police presence during festivals, city employees from the fire department and public works are also needed.
“There was a big hit to budgets with excessive overtime pay at festivals,” Simmons said.
Councilwoman Lois Hawkins requested a timeline for completing the form.
“Can we give them a date when this form will be ready so they don’t have to keep coming back,” Hawkins asked.
While a date to adopt a form and policies was not set, the council approved the date of the race in an effort to facilitate planning the event.
