TO:
Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
THROUGH:
John Jalili, Interim City Manager
FROM:
Mark Leyman, Parks and Recreation Director
SUBJECT:Title
Annual Fee Waiver Requests Associated with Non-Profit Special Events (American Martyrs Parish Fair; American Martyrs 5K Run/Walk; Grandview 5K; Holiday Fireworks Festival; Manhattan Beach 10K Run; Manhattan Beach Education Foundation Wine Auction; Manhattan Beach Grand Prix Bike Race; Manhattan Beach Hometown Fair; Manhattan Beach Little League Opening Day Parade; Richstone Pier-to-Pier Jog/Walk; and the Robinson School Fun Run) (Parks and Recreation Director Leyman).
APPROVE
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_____________________________________________________________________
Recommended Action
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council approve a 100% fee waiver for the Manhattan Beach 10K Run, the Holiday Fireworks Festival, Little League Opening Day Parade, the Manhattan Beach Education Foundation (Wine Auction) and events associated with the Manhattan Beach Unified School District listed in this report and recommends charging 25% to all other "legacy" organizations.
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FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
The following billing rates were utilized to calculate departmental costs for non-profit special events, with any related equipment charged at the prevailing rental fee:
Community Services Officer: $100.30/hr.
Police Sergeant: $192.18/hr.
Police Officers: $142.23/hr.
Fire/Paramedics (2): $93.41/hr.
Fire Marshal: $251.96/hr.
Engine Company: $356.71/hr.
Public Works/Maintenance: $63.00/hr.
Recreation Leaders II: $20.66/hr.
Parking: $1.50/hr. pier lot; $.75/hr. lots other than pier lots; $1.25/hr. street meters
Per past City Council direction, staff used fully burdened rates when determining the true costs associated with each special event request. Fully burdened rates include City overhead. These are the rates adopted by City Council in the resolution of fees. The funds to provide these services are budgeted annually within each of the affected City departments. The recommended fee waivers represent $252,012.
BACKGROUND:
Due to requests for waivers of City fees/service charges by non-profit organizations conducting special events in Manhattan Beach, the City developed and initiated a yearly application process. In January, a Special Event Application was sent to each "legacy" organization that conducted an event during the 2013-2014 fiscal year. The deadline to submit completed applications to the Parks and Recreation Department was February 15, 2014 with all requests submitted by the established deadline.
In their meeting of April 7, 2009, City Council approved charging 25% of all "legacy" organizations (except the Manhattan Beach 10K Run, the Holiday Fireworks Festival and Little League Opening Day Parade, as discussed below) and approved waiving all fees for the events associated with the Manhattan Beach Unified School District, including the Manhattan Beach Wine Auction, with the stipulation that the request for the Manhattan Beach Wine Auction be revisited each year.
DISCUSSION:
Staff forwarded each special event application to the various City departments for operational review and requested that each department calculate its costs based on last year's actual costs and any additional requests for services for that year's event.
Copies of the actual application packets submitted by each organization are attached for the Council's review (Attachment 1).
The Proposed Special Event Fee Waiver chart (Attachment 2) lists the name of the organizations in the first column. Columns 2-6 show the proposed fee/service charges associated with the event, broken down by department. Column 7 represents the total costs of City services. Column 8 is staff's recommendation. The included cost estimates are based upon last fiscal year's actual event costs. Should any event promoter increase the event scope requiring additional personnel or material resources, additional costs will be forwarded to the event promoters with an accompanying 75% fee waiver.
City operational costs estimates are provided by each department and include but are not limited to hardware and staffing costs; administration for event meetings and pre and post event inspection, use of City hardware, such as water barricades, saw horses and message boards; GIS mapping, and cost of developing a traffic control plan. Estimates are given prior to each event, and final billing is based upon actual resources used during the event. Event estimates for next fiscal year have increased based upon the direct staffing and hardware costs. This increase captures the true cost of all City resources, which include the traffic control plan and administrative staff planning.
Prior to 2003, City Council made a decision to exempt three events from paying City fees. The Fireworks Festival, Hometown Fair 10K Run and the Little League Parade were considered special events of a community-wide interest and too valuable to lose and too expensive for the City to implement by itself.
In 2009, the City Council directed staff to waive all fees for Manhattan Beach Education Foundation (MBEF) events, but requested that MBEF waivers be revisited each year. Staff is again recommending a full waiver for the Wine Auction and the Grandview and Robinson running races which are associated with the MBEF.
There is a new request for a special event fee waiver for the Tour de Pier Event. The first Tour de Pier Event was held on May 5, 2013 and is a fundraising event using stationary bikes to support the Hirshberg Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer, the Livestrong Foundation and the Cancer Support Community of Redondo Beach. The 2014 event is scheduled for May 18, 2014. The organization is requesting a fee waiver for the 2014 event as well as for the 2014-2015 fiscal year event taking place in May, 2015. Staff estimates City costs for the Tour de Pier event at current fully burdened rates to be $13,577.
The Tour De Pier Event was well received by the community and staff received many positive comments. Staff is in favor of continuing this event in future years, however, does not recommend a fee waiver for the 2013-14 or 2014-15 Tour De Pier Events. Staff receives numerous special event requests for other community non-profit events that provide fundraising and benefits to the community. Each of these groups would also like to receive a fee waiver. One recent example of a comparable special event would be the Hirshberg Foundation Run/Walk for Bill. This event was held at the Manhattan Beach Pier on March 29, 2014 with all proceeds donated to cancer research. Although this event is smaller in scale with 200-300 participants, staff must follow the same guidelines for each group to be treated consistently.
CONCLUSION:
Staff recommends that the City Council approve a 100% fee waiver for the Manhattan Beach 10K Run, the Holiday Fireworks Festival, Little League Opening Day Parade, the Manhattan Beach Education Foundation (Wine Auction) and events associated with the Manhattan Beach Unified School District listed in this report and recommends charging 25% to all other "legacy" organizations.
Attachments:
1. Legacy Special Event Applications
2. Proposed Fee Waivers FY 2014-2015