Printable VersionPossible federal fees on Lake Havasu could cripple the city.
“These new fees are definitely going to have some of our events reeling or folding altogether,” said Convention and Visitors Bureau President/CEO Doug Traub. “Some of these regulations could effectively shut down our ability to market ourselves to film and other events in our city. I mean, darn it, that’s our bread and butter here.”
BLM Lake Havasu Manager Ramone McCoy said it is too early to speculate on the impact of the fees.
“Keep in mind that these environmental assessments are public documents and open to public comments once they’re complete,” McCoy said, adding that the fees and regulations should follow the same as BLM California. “BLM is responsible for administration of recreation activities on the lake. We are slowly going through the process of administering those duties. We started out with the vendors and our next step is the competitive and organized events.”
The minimum fee for a Special Recreation Permit is $90, according to BLM California, and all other possible fees depend on the specific type of event.
“The fees set by the BLM director depend on the type of use,” McCoy said. “The fees for commercial use are 3 percent of the gross receipts collected. Competitive use or organized group/event use fees are $4 per participant per day, 3 percent of gross receipts, or the minimum annual fee, which ever is greater. When use is both commercial and competitive, the higher fee is charged.”
McCoy said she expects the fees to relate to many events on Lake Havasu, including regattas.
Traub said the CVB did an analysis based on 15 events the organization promoted in 2009 and did a cost-estimate to find out the difference the new fees could make.
“It would mean an increase in a minimum of $30,000 just among those 15 events,” Traub said. “With the competitive events and the per-participant fee, the $4,000 that was spent last year would turn into $120,000. Total exposure, we could be looking at as high as $300,000 and that’s just from those 15 events.”
In terms of possible revenue for the city, Traub said he sees potential for an “astronomical increase in fees and detrimental effects to our revenue stream.”
“We also estimate (the fees) would comprise about 25 percent of the estimated revenue of all of the events on the lake,” Traub told the Lake Havasu Marine Association members Wednesday evening. “It certainly infringes on the revenues our city relies upon. For all of these reasons, it is definitely not a plus for tourism in our community.”
Mayor Mark Nexsen met with McCoy Thursday in part to discuss the possible fees.
“My emphasis was I realize they have a job to do. However, I have to look at the overall big picture, and we can’t have significant fees impact local events because they won’t come here anymore,” Nexsen said, adding that BLM Lake Havasu officials have showed a “willingness to work with the city.”
“I said before we set any kind of rates in stone and before the cement begins to dry, I’d like to have an opportunity to sit down with them to say what is it we can do to not only meet their obligations but not drive events away from our city,” he said.
The BLM, in coordination with the city, removed all shoreline and floating vendors from Rotary Park and London Bridge beaches in July 2009. The City Council voted to deny access to two shoreline vendors for Rotary Park Beach in January after several citizens voiced concern during a regular meeting. BLM officials say they will honor the council’s decision and not allow permits at Rotary Park Beach. All commercial vendors were instructed to follow BLM requirements for filing a SRP application for consideration, review, and approval or denial, according to the environmental assessment.
City Councilman Dean Barlow also spoke about the potential impact of the fees at the Marine Association meeting. He read the following section of an e-mail received from BLM Assistant Manager Mike Henderson:
“‘I hope that this is something that can be ironed out. … Again all of this is coming about after the City Council request for the BLM to begin enforcing commercial vending issues along the city beach areas of Lake Havasu. The issues did not stop there and are now continuing slowly throughout the area of BLM responsibility on Lake Havasu.’”
“What that means to me is they’re blaming the whole thing on us,” Barlow said. “Well this obviously is going much, much, much further than vendors on our city beaches.”
Marine Association Executive Director Jim Salscheider said he is concerned and in the process of learning more about the fees and a possible course of action.
“This could clearly have some ramifications on our tourism,” he said Wednesday. “We just don’t know the impact it’s going to have yet.”
For further details on the possible fees in regard to the Special Recreation Permits, residents are asked to visit BLM California’s website at www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/prog/recreation/recpermit.html.
You can contact the reporter at nbruttell@havasunews.com
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