ROCKLAND, Maine — The Maine Lobster Festival is an economic engine for the Rockland area, city officials acknowledged Monday night while continuing their annual debate over whether to charge the volunteer organization for use of city waterfront property.
In the end, the council voted 4-1 to waive $12,000 in fees that would normally be associated with the use of Harbor, Buoy, and Mildred Merrill parks for the week that the event uses the properties for set up, the festival and clean-up time.
The 65th Annual Maine Lobster Festival is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 1, through Sunday, Aug. 5.
“It’s pretty amazing the number of people who come here from all over for the festival. We have to look at the big picture of what the festival does not just for Rockland but the area as a whole,” Councilor William Clayton said.
He said the council often looks at something successful and asks why it can’t get more money from it.
The festival is a boon to the hospitality industry, local shops and cab companies, he said.
Councilor Eric Hebert also cited the benefits to Rockland from the festival.
“It’s Rockland’s festival. It does our community a great service not just with economic activity but with what it gives back to the community,” Hebert said.
Tim Carroll, president of the Rockland Festival Board, said the organization donated more than $70,000 for various causes during the past year including the city recreation center and the schools. He said those donations offer relief to property taxpayers.
Councilor Elizabeth Dickerson opposed the waiver, saying she represents constituents who feel the festival should pay the $12,000. She said the organization should pay the fees as any other organization and it could then forego donating $12,000.
Maggie Trout of Rockland presented a letter to councilors stating that the city should not approve any fee waivers without fiscally and ethically sound reasons and must establish specific guidelines.
“The Maine Lobster Festival is Rockland, Maine, as Rockland, Maine, is the Maine Lobster Festival,” Carroll said.
He said he never fails to meet someone who is familiar with the festival when he travels the country. He said during this past winter, he was at a barbecue restaurant in San Diego, Calif., and was wearing a festival volunteer T-shirt when someone stopped him and mentioned having attended the Rockland event.
While saying that the waiver was a reasonable request, Carroll also pointed out the donations made in the past year and the more than $20,000 in direct costs the organization pays to the city for police coverage and other municipal services used during the festival so there is no direct cost to the community.
Councilor Larry Pritchett praised the effort of the festival but said he would like a long-term solution to the issue of the fee waivers. He said one option could be to direct fees from the festival to the downtown tax increment financing district which could be used for possible future redesigns of Harbor Park.
Also on Monday night, the council discussed changing the fees for use of city waterfront properties. The Harbor Management Commission submitted a package of recommended fee hikes to the council. For example, the daily cost of using Harbor Park would increase from $1,200 to $1,500 per day. The cost of using Buoy Park would increase from $750 to $800 per day. The use of Mildred Merrill Park would increase from $200 to $250 per day and the use of all three adjacent parks would jump from $2,100 to $2,500 per day.
Councilors, however, postponed a vote on the increases after learning that the Harbor Commission had not solicited input from organizations that use the harbor facilities such as the Lobster Festival and the North Atlantic Blues Festival.
Don’t you even think of a TIF unless you want a tiff. Some of us remember the time when we got in for nothing and the whole parade route from beginning to end was filled with people. The clam festival does it, why not here? They will more than make it up with meals sold etc. The Festival Corporation is right; they have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to assist Rockland with everything from the ladder truck to ambulances. Work together now to have an agreement that will be there next year so there will be no problem; like they are doing with the Brass Compass. ;)
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The festival is a boon to the hospital industry” – lol, well that’s not very good publicity ….perhaps you mean “hospitality industry”
That this festival is the subject of my comment is exemplary, and suggestions for putting procedures in place would be applied to all municipal giving. It is also meant to raise the discussion, and promote a definition, of what organizations can be determined to exist for the “public benefit,” that is, of benefit to a majority or significant portion of the community.
Readers may not know that the City of Rockland does not administer the Festival.
Interesting to note, excluding the significant number of volunteer hours for festival set-up and take-down, and Board planning time, at minimum, over 1000 dedicated volunteers, contribute over 7,800 hours. Even figuring minimum wage at $7.50 per hour, (and the nonprofit volunteer value is quoted at between $20 and $25 per hour). The bare minimum value of the volunteer time is $58,500.
According to the IRS, any 501(c) organization is required by law to return any revenue to the community. It is not an option.
Suggestions for specific procedures for municipal giving to nonprofits include:
City officials should ensure that all organizations requesting an appropriation of funds for financial aid are either nonprofit charitable or nonprofit civic organizations, and should thoroughly review financial statements.
City officials should develop procedures addressing the purpose(s) for which money disbursed to nonprofit organizations may be expended.
The city clerk should have complete files on all nonprofit organizations requesting financial assistance. Those files should include, at a minimum, an annual audit, a description of the program that serves the residents of the municipality, and the proposed use of the municipal assistance.
City officials should ensure that notices are published in a newspaper of general circulation notifying residents of the intent to make an appropriation to a nonprofit, but non-charitable, organization. The notification should include the name of the organization and the amount of the proposed appropriation and the purposes for which the appropriation will be spent. Having procedures in place would prove to be of the greatest benefit to all.
It is interesting that the Yarmouth Clam Festival is mentioned by another reader. That festival, as I understand it, is run and staffed solely by the members of nonprofit organizations that benefit from participating?
If the City charges the Festival the $12,000 fee, do they think it will pack up relocate? No way! Charge them!