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Town staff proposes doubling film-permit fees to better match neighboring towns
Summary
Town staff presented a proposal to raise film-permit fees for private and public property (from $600 to $1,200 and $700 to $1,400 respectively), keep student and nonprofit rates unchanged, and return to the board with village comparisons and code language for a vote.
Town staff presented a proposal at an open meeting to raise the town’s film-permit fees, saying the current rates are low compared with comparable municipalities. Lisa, a town staff member who led the review, recommended doubling the private-property fee from $600 to $1,200 and the public-property fee from $700 to $1,400 while keeping student and nonprofit rates unchanged.
The recommendation, Lisa said, is intended to bring the town’s fees closer to neighboring towns’ schedules and to ensure the town recovers costs tied to permitting. Council members pressed for more data on how the town’s rates compare with nearby villages and asked for examples; Lisa cited Irvington’s rates — $1,000 per day for private property and $5,000 per day for public property — and noted North Castle lists a $3,000-per-day figure for certain street closures.
Councilors asked about volume and impacts. Staff estimated the town issues roughly one film permit per month, placing the town on the low end of comparable communities. Council members pressed about resident notice and traffic effects; Lisa said the permit requires advance notice to neighbors and staff can provide signage and digital message boards case by case. She added that police overtime costs are billed to productions using the same overtime breakdown the town uses for election staffing, and that the rank and availability of officers determine the charge.
Lisa told the board she will gather village fee data and the applicable code language and return with an updated proposal so the board can consider a formal vote. No vote on fee changes took place at the meeting.
Quotes
"Instead of it being 600 for private property, we wanna double it to 1,200," Lisa said, describing the recommended change. "And then for public property, instead of it being 700, we wanna double it to 1,400." She added, "We're keeping students and nonprofits the same."
Context and next steps
Council members asked staff to include comparisons with neighboring villages, not just towns, and to show how the town’s fees would affect local productions and traffic management. Lisa committed to returning with village fee figures and the draft code amendments needed to implement any change; the board did not take a formal vote on the proposal at this session.
