TO:
Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
THROUGH:
Mark Danaj, 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; Walk with Sally; Sophisticated Snoops; Sandpipers Holiday Homes Tour) (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 $193,435.
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 2014-2015 fiscal year. The deadline to submit completed applications to the Parks and Recreation Department was February 13, 2015 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. After six years of revisiting this issue, staff feels that it has been demonstrated that the fee waiver process has been an effective way to acknowledge "Legacy" organizations and their positive and beneficial impact on the community and residents. Thus, staff recommends that the City Council authorize these waivers not just for this fiscal year, but for the next five fiscal years.
The Proposed Special Event Fee Waiver chart (Attachment 1) 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.
Three additional "Legacy" events have been included for banner hanging only. These events include "Walk with Sally", Sophisticated Snoops, and Sandpipers Holiday Homes Tour. Each of these community events has hung their banners for many years, however do not require any City services for their events. The waiver will be for banner hanging costs only, as a city co-sponsored event.
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. Any additional direct costs for non-city services (including, but not limited to, private security services) will be paid by the event organizer and will not be included in the fee waiver.
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.
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 for Fiscal Years 2015-2016, 2016-2017, 2017-2018, 2018-2019 and 2019-2020.
Attachments:
1. Proposed Fee Waivers FY 2015-2016, 2016-2017, 2017-2018, 2018-2019 and 2019-2020