Cost of hiring parks to rise
The cost of hiring parks and reserves in the inner city is set to rise sharply, prompting speculation ticket prices for some outdoor events could follow.
The City of Perth last night approved a 60 per cent increase in reserve hire fees for ticketed events. From [x-apple-data-detectors://0/|July 1|target=_blank] , the cost of hiring a park or reserve for a ticketed function will rise from 50¢ per person per hour to 80¢.
The cost of road closures, where required, and the application fees for big commercial events such as festival and concerts will also rise, albeit more modestly.
Smaller fee increases will also be applied to non-ticketed events, including hiring gazebos at Russell Square, Victoria Gardens and Queens Gardens. A discount of 50 per cent applies for not-for-profit or charity events.
The increases formed part of the city’s 2015-16 budget, which was approved last night and included an increase in the city’s residential and commercial rates and rubbish collection fees.
A report to council said reserve hire fees had historically been kept relatively low to attract visitors to the city and “encourage activation of the city’s reserves”.
Perth chief executive Gary Stevenson said the increase in fees was to recover operational costs incurred by the city.
“It should be noted that for ticketed events the increase in monetary terms equates to 30c per person per hour,” he said.
He said community groups that had already committed to hosting events and had engaged with the city would have the existing hire fee honoured.
Perth’s parks, gardens and reserves are hired for a wide range of events, including the Perth International Arts Festival, the Fringe World Festival, the Ben & Jerry open air cinema and the Taste of Perth festival.
A Fringe spokeswoman said it was too early to say what impact the fee increase might have on the festival, which uses Russell Square for its popular Pleasure Garden.
PIAF general manager Julian Donaldson said the festival’s outdoor events were historically non-ticketed events and it was unclear from the city’s budget papers what the impact would be.
He said PIAF would have to absorb any increase to the cost of holding free events in the city.
“Any increase (in fees) we would hope would go back into the maintenance and beautification of the reserves,” he said.
Mr Donaldson said the city had historically been a cheaper place to hire parks and gardens than many other local government areas.
