Organizers who hold road races within the town will now be charged a fee after town officials opted to end the practice of allowing police officers to work overtime to cover private events.
The Town Board enacted the new policy in July to comply with state regulations. Town employees had previously been allowed to work overtime if for some reason they were hired by an outside vendor to do so. The town then billed the vendor for the overtime and benefits; however, those hours counted toward the accrued time of employee pensions. The change didn’t particularly save the town any money, but was done for the overall benefit of New York taxpayers.
The new policy mostly impacted the town’s police department, where officers were sometimes hired for outside security work and to cover public events for safety reasons. Since it’s a requirement road races can only be held if police officers work security, officials said they would find a way for the races to continue.
As a solution, Supervisor John Clarkson and Comptroller Mike Cohen released a new fee chart for road races at the latest Town Board meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 22.
With the new fees, many road race organizers would see a slight increase in what they pay to the town. Cohen said organizers were only previously billed for the overtime of police officers based on the specifics of the race, but other town expenditures weren’t taken into account.
“Because of our resolution passed in July of not accepting private duty overtime assignments, we cannot bill directly for overtime created by these events,” said Cohen in a later e-mail. “Police involvement is now regarded as a matter of public safety and not because we were hired by the organizer. The new fee attempts to reimburse the town for time and resources spent on road races including highway time and materials (barricades, detour signs, etc…), public safety and lastly, administrative efforts both before and after the race.”
At the meeting, a majority of Board members expressed concerns that the fees were too high. Some of the races such as the Turkey Trot, which had nearly 1,500 participants last year, would have a modest fee increase of $250 under the new policy. However, some board members were concerned for smaller races.
Councilman Jeffrey Kuhn said he runs each year in the Great Mom’s 5K Race put on by the Bethlehem Area Mothers of Preschoolers group throughout the Enclave and Haswell Farms. Last year the group was charged about $650, but under the new schedule would see their fees increase to about $1,250.
“Only, like, 60 people run in that race,” said Kuhn, adding that running a race through the main streets of Delmar is different then running through a smaller community.
A few board members felt the fees would be too high for some races to be able to continue.
Councilwoman Julie Sasso said its likely the price increase would be passed on to participants, and could result in fewer people running in races. This could be cause for concern, since many races benefit local charities.
Clarkson said that was not the goal. The fees were also not meant only to recoup the funds needed to pay town employees, but possibly deter too many races from being held in the future.
“We’re trying to make sure these events have enough support from the community and the organizers that we’re not doing all of this for no cause,” said Clarkson.
The supervisor said he’s received numerous calls within the past couple of years from neighbors who feel the closed roads are a hindrance.
Under the new policy passed this summer, the Supervisor has the discretion to deny races. Clarkson described a recent instance where a marathon was not allowed to be held for public convenience reasons, since it would have closed the Four Corners for a lengthy period of time. However, he said he did not want to be put in the position of having to deny multiple races a year.
“I’ll be frank — we have five to 10 races a year, and I think that’s about right,” said Clarkson. “If all of a sudden 20 applications are coming up, I know that would (inconvenience) the police department and I’ll be looking to say no … I think it will naturally regulate itself.”
The other issue is making sure officers are alert for their shifts instead of working extra time to cover the races.
It was eventually decided no variable fee would be charged for races with 100 or fewer participants. This would make it more cost effective for smaller races. Others, like the Race for Hope 5K, would be spending about $900 less than previous years under the new system.
Like all town fees, the Town Board will have the opportunity to change them next year if the prices are deemed too high.
John Guastella, organizer of the Turkey Trot and the Our Towne Half Marathon, called the increases nominal. The Town first notified him in June about the change, so he was well prepared, and Guastella offered his expertise in coming up with appropriate fees for small races.
“We’d be having a totally different conversation if it was a couple thousand dollars,” said Guastella. “ I think they did the best job they could with what they had to deal with.”
