One Starkville alderman says he’s interested in establishing a fee for certain special events that require additional police coverage and other in-kind services from the city, while the mayor said additional costs could create a “chilling effect” on community development.
On Tuesday, Ward 1 Alderman Ben Carver said he wants staff to review the city’s special events policy as many events draw resources — employees’ time and additional overtime pay, for example — from various internal departments.
Mayor Parker Wiseman, however, came out against the proposal Thursday, saying a fee system could cause prospective organizers to shy away from developing tourist-drawing events.
“It’s no small sacrifice that our service providers have to make to accommodate our calendar of festivals; however, it is an important service to provide because we aspire to be a vivacious community where people feel encouraged to put on festivals that improve the quality of life for everyone who lives here and attract tourists from other places,” Wiseman said. “We should be mindful of doing anything that might have a chilling effect on our citizens’ ability to volunteer their time, energy and money to try and enhance the community by coordinating festivals.”
Carver did not establish a timeline for such a review, and it is unknown if the board will attempt to tackle the issue during this spring’s municipal election cycle or leave it up to the incoming administration.
Not only does Starkville Police Department tap into its overtime budget during times of increased enforcement efforts, but SPD Chief Frank Nichols told aldermen Tuesday that those funds are also heavily used during the fall, when manpower availability is strained as the city swells with tourists during Mississippi State University’s college football season.
Many of the special events given in-kind services from police, fire, sanitation, utilities and other city services are also held in the fall, and Nichols estimated his department alone works at least 25 events per year.
“I think it’s something this board or the next board needs to address. I know (police officers) are working overtime anyway, and then they have to come in and work an in-kind request,” Carver said. “It’s a college town … that’s growing. We may need to get these guys some kind of relief, whether it’s financial or something.”
Starkville’s Community Development Department provided The Dispatch of a list of 2016 and 2017 events seeking in-kind services from the city. That list, which contains 13 events from last year and four from this year, is not considered a comprehensive review of every in-kind donation during the two years, as many requests flow through other departments first.
The information, however, does provide insight into some of the bigger events the city helps facilitate, which in turn help flow additional tourism dollars into the community through increased sales tax generation.
Starkville aldermen were asked to fund $43,245 in in-kind services between the 13 events, the documents show. Of those events, the MSU Student Association sought the most services for a single event — an estimated $13,540 split between the electric, fire, police and sanitation departments for Bulldog Bash.
Comparatively, the Starkville Area Arts Council sought $8,225 — including $3,500 in police help — in in-kind donations for last spring’s Cotton District Arts Festival. The organization’s request for this year’s event is $9,525 due to increases to the police and fire departments’ line item requests.
Agencies under the Greater Starkville Development Partnership’s management umbrella, including the Starkville Main Street Association, racked up the second largest amount of combined asks in 2016 among those accounted for in the city’s release. The organization sought a combined $9,130 in services for SMSA’s Christmas Parade ($5,005), King Cotton Crawfish Boil ($1,900) and Pumpkinpalooza ($1,850), and the Partnership’s own Memorial Day Commemoration ($375).
MSUSA’s Bulldog Bash, SAAC’s Cotton District Arts Festival and SMSA’s Pumpkinpalooza are seen as three of Starkville’s signature tourism events.
Adding a fee to special events’ requests seeking in-kind services would put more financial strain on tourism events that help bring money into the city’s coffers via Starkville’s sales and 2-percent food and beverage taxes, thereby helping pay for the donations allotted by aldermen, said Jennifer Prather, the Partnership’s special events manager.
“Adding a fee on top of what we already do (with marketing, promotions and other event-related expenses) would be huge for us because fees are not budgeted in our costs and we do not make any direct revenue off of our events,” she said. “I think we’re a little different because our organization holds events specifically designed to help the city make money. We feel like the cooperative relationship between our organization and the city is further driving and encouraging economic impact.”
Carver said deciding which events or organizations are required to pay fees for special events “wouldn’t be his call,” and he will opt to allow law enforcement to analyze their needs and help shape a future policy.
“Maybe something from the revenue-generating side could be done to make sure the police department is reimbursed properly through 2-percent funds and sales taxes. We’ve just got to do something soon because they’re stretched thin down there,” he said. “These officers are covering more ground than they’re supposed to. The tourism crowds are increasing, and events are becoming staples and are unlikely to go away. The Partnership has done a phenomenal job coordinating with MSU and capturing tourism. Because of that, our police officers are having to work more than normal.”
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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