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Nonprofits and event organizers urge council to shelve special-event "impact fee"
Summary
Nonprofit leaders and cultural organizations told the Newport City Council the proposed special-event impact fee would strain small community fundraisers and arts groups, with one presenter saying the fee would add about $4,000 for July events and threaten programming.
The Newport City Council heard a string of nonprofit voices urging restraint on a proposed special-event impact fee during a pushed-up public hearing on the ordinance.
Deb Langel, who said she runs a nonprofit pumpkin patch for Trinity Church, told the council the added costs would be ‘‘detrimental’’ to long-running community programs. Whitney Clark, director of development and communications for Newport Classical, said her organization’s approved FY budgets start Sept. 1 and do not account for the fee, which she estimated would ‘‘be an increase of about $4,000 just for the month of July’’ and would “directly and negatively impact our ability to continue providing the robust year‑round cultural programming the community has come to enjoy and rely upon for years.”
A representative from the International Tennis Hall of Fame said his organization pays substantial property taxes and hosts events that bring ‘‘tens of millions of dollars to the city and to the region’’ and urged the council to consider that context when weighing a small event fee. Council debate focused partly on procedure: a motion to bring the ordinance to an immediate vote briefly failed for lack of a valid second, and a later attempt to move the question prompted procedural back-and-forth rather than a decisive outcome.
The council did not adopt the ordinance at this meeting; the hearing included requests for clearer fiscal details and for staff to return with more precise budgetary impacts. The mayor noted the item had been advanced to accommodate public commenters who attended for the discussion.
