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Westchester council agrees to cap police support for Christmas parade, defers broader event-fee changes
Summary
Council members debated whether to raise special-event parking fees and how to fund the Westchester Christmas parade before agreeing to cap this year’s police contribution at $10,000 and send broader parking and event-definition work back to committees.
Westchester Borough Council members agreed June 17 to cap the borough’s police contribution for this year’s Christmas parade at $10,000 and to send decisions about any wider change to event parking fees or standards back to committee for further work.
The action follows an extended council discussion on how the borough should fund large public events, how to apply a consistent special-event fee and whether to share parking revenue with event organizers.
The issue mattered because the Christmas parade draws the largest crowds in Westchester and requires substantial police and public works support. “The police department is at capacity for the Christmas parade,” Mayor de Baptiste said, arguing the borough should continue to back the parade’s public-safety needs. Council members repeatedly said they want a consistent policy for all special events but that the Christmas parade is “a unicorn” that may merit separate treatment.
Council member Brian Travis summarized committee recommendations and led the discussion toward a short-term solution: the borough will cap its in-kind or cash police contribution to the Chamber-organized parade at $10,000 for this year and re-evaluate the approach after the next police contract is settled. Council directed the parking and finance committees to return with clear definitions of what constitutes a borough event, and whether and how to change the special-event parking fee that applies to garages and surface lots.
Council members debated two main options: raising a special-event parking fee to $20 for the day and retaining all parking revenue in the borough’s parking enterprise fund, or keeping the current fee and sharing some parking proceeds with event organizers. Some members stressed that parking revenue is one of the borough’s few enterprise funds and should be preserved, while others favored using some parking revenue to reduce the borough’s cash or in-kind contribution to events.
Dana, a Chamber representative, told the council the Chamber will continue working with borough staff in committee meetings. The council asked staff to draft a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the Chamber and to bring recommendations back through the finance and parking committees before final approval.
No ordinance was adopted at the June 17 meeting; council members placed the police contribution cap on the consent agenda for the next meeting and asked committees to return with a recommended rubric for defining events and for parking-fee policy changes.
The decision leaves a short-term funding path for the Chamber while deferring larger policy questions on parking fees and event eligibility to committee review.
