City Approves Up to $40,000 in Services for Chasco

Members of the New Port Richey City Council voted Tuesday to promise as much as $40,000 in city support services to the 2012 Chasco Fiesta.

The sponsorship caps the costs of supporting the multi-day event, organized by the , less than half of what the city’s costs totaled for the 2011 Fiesta.

In that occurred at a work session on the deal a week earlier, council members offered only little comment before approving the proposal. All voted to provide the sponsorship.

“I still feel that Chasco is the most important event we get out of New Port Richey,” Mayor Bob Consalvo said. “It’s part of our heritage, as I’ve said before.”

Supporting the 2011 Chasco Fiesta, which lasted 11 days, cost the city nearly $88,000. The total combined cost of the 18 events in the city during the past fiscal year was about $186,000.

It was proposed this past summer that New Port Richey look at  for the services it provides to support events: police, fire, parks and recreation and public works. The city has since negotiated to provide partial subsidies to certain events . 

The idea of full cost recovery created tension between the city and Chasco planners. Chasco Steering Committee Executive Director Kristen King said in September that an alternate site for the festival had been selected outside the city in case planners could not afford to stay.

On the night of the work session, after it was over, King said, "I would say we’re staying."

On Wednesday, after the council voted to approve the sponsorship, she said, “We are definitely moving forward with planning, and everything is going to stay in the same location."

Councilman Bob Langford said that he didn’t think it was government’s responsibility to ensure that an event is good.

“I don’t believe that special events should rely so heavily on city funds, and I hope we can correct that,” he said.

Deputy Mayor Rob Marlowe said the proposal was a ”step in the right direction." If Chasco was going to cut its cost, he said, the city could meet it halfway.

“Events need to carry their own weight,” he said.

New Port Richey is also planning on entering into agreements with Chasco and every other event that spell out the responsibilities of the event planners and the city when paying for, putting on and cleaning up after the celebrations. These agreements, called memoranda of understanding, will be considered before the approval of planners' special event applications.   

A previous Patch article incorrectly said the memorandum of understanding with Chasco would be put to a vote Oct. 18.

The city will discuss setting a standard hourly rate for personnel working at events and a new hourly rate for police providing security at events at future meetings.

Article revised 8:07 p.m. Oct. 20.