POTTSTOWN — Like in previous years, Pottstown Borough Council agreed to close High Street for the Rotary Club’s Fourth of July Parade.
What was different this year was the conversation before the vote.
Councilman Andrew Monastra voted differently, not because he doesn’t want the parade to happen.
Quite the opposite.
Monastra believes the borough shouldn't charge the $4,241 fee to the Rotary Club for the parade.
During Monday’s work session, he argued that events like the Fourth of July Parade, GoFourth Street Fair, Red Horse Car Shows, and the L’oe Show European Car show bring economic benefit to Pottstown, so they shouldn't be charged fees to close the streets.
Aside from the fee for each closed street and for the placement and removal of wood barricades, the borough also charges for the services of nine police officers for four hours overtime and five fire police for three hours of service.
“I was doing some research and according to the Pennsylvania Department of Tourism, day tourists spend about $133 per person per day. So someone who is bringing 2,000 people into town, 3,000 people to town, do the math. If they’re bringing 2,000, 3,000, you’re talking $266,000 of economic benefit to the borough, per event, and I haven’t seen evidence of why we need the extra police presence. I’m trying to find out why we need that; why we have to charge people who are bringing economic benefit into the town.”
How that economic benefit is distributed in Pottstown is harder to determine.
Regarding a planned street closure for another event, Gene Dugan, owner of Grumpy’s Hand-Carved Sandwiches on High Street, informed council that interestingly, while his business benefited greatly from the L’oe Show European Car Show last summer, he cannot seem to make money from the people who attend the monthly Red Horse Motoring Club car shows that occur over the summer.
Monastra acknowledged seeing the cost breakdown for the fees from the March 6 agenda, stating “I did see the numbers on a piece of paper. But I asked if there is a study showing additional calls during those times and I got no answer. So if we are just giving out overtime because somebody wants it, that’s great, but do we need it? Does it have to be that expensive? Do we have to have these things be so expensive, when they are bringing so much economic benefit, according to the Pennsylvania office of tourism?”
There was no further comment from council and Monastra cast the only no vote regarding the parade after receiving no answers to his questions.
However, his questions have been brought up before.
Those charges, and whether or not to not charge them, have endangered the Pottstown Halloween Parade all the way back to 2012. That year, borough council ended up not charging the fees so the parade could happen. In 2009, council didn't charge the fee for the Halloween parade and it cost taxpayers $3,200 in police extra hours, in spite of the $1.2 million budget deficit.
As a result of that, the borough adopted a policy that no event fees would be waived except those for the Memorial Day Parade “as an indication of the borough’s thanks for all who have given their lives in service to their country.”
In 2016, an unsettled invoice from the previous year endangered the July Fourth parade which, at the time, was not run by the Rotary Club.
In 2019, the Pottstown Classics Car Club Show departed downtown Pottstown specifically mentioning the fees the borough charged to block off the streets for the show, and the requirement to increase its liability insurance coverage from $1 million to $3 million. The show moved to an unused parking lot at the Coventry Mall.
To be clear, the Rotary Club has not submitted a formal request for the fee for the July 4th parade to be not charged, but Monastra has brought up the issue several times regarding the parade and GoFourth street festival and the Red Horse Motoring Club car shows which replaced the Pottstown Classic Car Club shows when they left.
For this year, at least, the Rotary Club will pay the fees to stage the July 4th parade.
