In early May, Athens Mayor Paul Wiehl speculated that this year’s street fests would run the city about $40,000, similar to last year’s total. That number turned out to be at least $30,000 under the mark.
While protecting public interests during the six street fests this spring, city and county departments incurred at least $70,000 of expenses for additional manpower, equipment and other costs. The total cost will continue to climb as bills continue to trickle in.
The Athens Police Department held the biggest portion of the bill at $65,000 and counting, said Athens Police Chief Tom Pyle. If the fests were not a citywide issue, the money from policing fests could be allocated elsewhere, he added.
A full-time police officer’s annual salary, insurance, pension and other costs amount to a total of about $60,000, Pyle said. He added that without the cost of the fests, another officer could be patrolling the streets year-round.
“We are basically spending money to chaperone a party,” Wiehl said. “We could be using this money to improve infrastructure and pay employees, but we have to protect public safety first.”
On top of a police presence at the fests, Athens County’s Emergency Medical Service is in full force on fest weekends.
The city staffs an extra ambulance from the city’s fleet for street fests, said Rick Callebs, director of the department. About $2,000 in wages goes to workers alone, he added.
Although the department does incur additional costs with fuel and medical supplies for minor injuries, Callebs said other costs can be offset by billing for transporting people to hospitals.
“We cannot bill for covering the event on the street fests because there is no one to bill,” Callebs said. “There is no ‘responsible party.’”
Number Fest, held off of city-owned property, is not included in these monetary estimates, as the party pays privately for police and EMS services.
“The most expensive of all of (the expenses) is the sheriff’s office, which is well over $15,000,” said Dominic Petrozzi, an OU alumnus who founded Number Fest, in a previous interview. “But we’re 100 percent glad to work alongside local law heroes of Athens.”
Despite the objections, Wiehl said a function of city government is to assist people in living.
“We’re trying to make a city that works for everybody,” he said. “And that’s a responsibility for us and every citizen. Everybody should be a good neighbor.”
sm366909@ohiou.edu
