Featuring palm-lined Sandy Beach and Boom Downtown, Fort Lauderdale is the perfect stage for events, both large and small, from the highly popular Tortuga Music Festival to the public Fort Lauderdale A1A Marathon with a wealth of attendance.
But by next year, promoters may have to spread out more money to host these events in Fort Lauderdale.
The current plan is to charge higher fees for outdoor events both inside and outside the Barrier Island, which are not organized by the city. The bigger the event and the greater the impact, the more rapidly the fees will increase.
“Impact Fees” constitute just a small portion of the overall cost as the city is already collecting full cost recovery for onsite services, including public safety.
“We are trying to have enough funds to compensate the city for the impact these events have,” Mayor Dean Trantalis said. “Staff came up with a matrix that feels like it’s consistent with what the city should collect to compensate for wear on the site. But we’re not going to charge $2 million for the Ultra Music Festival doing what Miami is doing.”
Based on recent proposals presented to the Fort Lauderdale Commission, beach usage fees paid by Tortuga organizers will increase most from $13,700 to $70,000. The price for the Fort Lauderdale Air Show will rise from $2,700 to $13,000, while the A1A marathon will range from $200 to $3,000.
The fee matrix is still in work, but is expected to be implemented by next year.
Consider the size of the crowd. Number and duration of road closures. Are public access to urban parks restricted? Will the event take place on the beach or during turtle season? Event setup and duration of failure. And whether the event seeks amplified music and alcohol servings.
“We haven’t settled in this matrix yet,” Trantalis said. “They apply the matrix to all events, but the size of the event affects the fee.”
Downtown resident Stan Eychelbaum said the city thinks it should raise the fees even further.
“Considering the traffic and disruption on the beach, Tortuga’s $70,000 won’t even be dented,” he said. “Even if it was $70,000 a week, that’s not enough.”
But even at large events like Tortuga, the mayor said the price scale is not intended to exceed the top.
“We love Tortuga and accept events every year,” Trantalis said of the three-day music festival that begins on April 4th. “But that affects the beach, they clean, but they need to add some effort to bring the beach back to the previous state.
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“It’s inconvenient costs.”
Fort Lauderdale has already collected the full amount of money that would cost to provide city services to special events, including police, fire/emergency medical services, parking and cleaning. Each event must include 110% of the onsite personnel’s estimated cost in escrow prior to the event.
Last year, the Fort Lauderdale Air Show had to put $254,000 in escrow based on the city’s $231,000 estimate. Most of the money went to the police ($110,000) and the fire ($45,000).
Tortuga organizers put $720,656 in escrow, based on the city’s estimated $655,000 for a three-day beachfront concert last year.
“This is why we need to raise prices,” Commissioner Ben Sorensen told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “There is an impact beyond a clear cost. It affects residents who are unable to get to the beach parking due to Tortuga. You will be charged for these spaces, but you won’t charge the inconvenience of residents not being able to easily reach the beach. It will cost an inconvenient cost.
Officials from the Tortuga and Fort Lauderdale Air Show were unable to contact us for comment.
Fort Lauderdale plans to raise application fees based on multipliers that take into account the size and impact of each event, said Carl Williams, city’s director of Parks.
“This change will allow us to charge additional fees as it is currently low based on the impact of the event and application fee,” Williams said.
Are there too many events?
There are also talks about limiting the number of events in the beaches and downtown areas.
Fort Lauderdale hosts 350 events a year, of which 45 are on the beach.
That’s too much, says Sorensen.
“We want to cap the number of events on the beach and downtown,” Sorensen said. “I want to be more selective about the events we allow.”
City officials are considering whether to collect additional fees for ticket events, including Tortuga.
“I think it’s worth watching,” Vice Mayor Steve Glassman said. “It’s not unusual across the country. I think we can look at some of the best practices without reinventing the wheel.
“We hear this a lot most of the time, especially from beach residents, but they feel they don’t get as much as we should, especially in some of the really big events that make a lot of money.”
“Wall to Wall” crowd
As president of the Venice Condominium Association, John Burns says he received complaints from neighbors about a long list of beach events in the city, including Tortuga.
“Beach learned to live with it, but when it put out 20,000 people at the end of the night, it’s a wall-to-wall mob of people taking over the streets,” Burns told the Sun Sentinel.
“Some of these multi-million dollar events can pay even more,” he added. “They are profitable for the city, but they also create traffic and delays.”
Is he worried that Tortuga will find another home? Not a little.
“I think Tortuga created the brand name in Fort Lauderdale,” Burns said. “It’s like a boat show. They created the brand name here.”
Beach resident Bob Caslo said he liked the idea of reducing the number of events on the beach.
“It looks like there’s an event every weekend,” Kaslo said. “Cities should be paid for that. Tortuga has become a major event. I don’t want them to move to another city. But I don’t think Tortuga will be going to stuff their bags and move elsewhere.”
Glassman agrees.
“I think the promoters have found a really good home for these events,” he said. “I don’t think they’re going to see anywhere else. Where are they going? Tamarak?”
Some event promoters may oppose higher prices and caps for events, Sorensen said.
“I got it,” he said. “But there are a lot of 350 events in the city. I think we can narrow it down. If some of them want to go to another city for a cheaper permit fee, I understand.
