ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — After reviewing bids to manage events at the St. Pete Pier, St. Petersburg officials say the least expensive option would still more than double the city’s costs.
Council members voted to defer a decision on that contract Thursday as the city faces the possible loss of $75 million in property tax revenue if a ballot measure to eliminate homestead taxes passes.
Beth Herendeen, the managing director for City Development Administration, told council members that not only did Pier Events, LLC come back as the best option during the bidding process, but she said the city can’t duplicate what they do for a better price.
Council members, though, had different opinions on the best path forward.
“To me, it is insane when we’re asking departments to cut 3% and 5%, and this is a 167% increase — 167% increase — that, at the end of the day, is subsidized by taxpayers,” said City Council Chairperson Lisset Hanewicz.
For eight years, Pier Events recruited and managed events like the annual New Year’s Eve celebration at the pier. Under the proposed new contract with the city, their fee would jump from $90,000 a year to $240,000 annually, plus $10,000 for equipment.
“The $90,000, that figure was sort of when the pier was new,” Herendeen said. “I don’t want to speak for Pier Events, but I will go ahead that there was a little bit of an unknown what level of resources would be needed, what level of staff would be needed, and that $90,000 has been static over time.”
Council members who said they supported the move noted that the events have widespread benefit.
“People go to the pier, and then they go to the Dali or they go to the Juno & the Peacock, and you get that spillover because of activation,” said council member Copley Gerdes.
Michael Lavalle, shift supervisor at Kilwin’s on Beach Drive, said that store is one example of a business that benefits from events at the pier.
He said the impact on pier event days is undeniable.
“We definitely make more money,” he said. “The sales definitely go up because it brings people downtown.”
Herendeen told council the new contract would boost revenues to the city from $100,000 in fiscal year 2025 to $165,000 in FY 2026, but Hanewicz noted that didn’t balance out the $250,000 cost.
The City Council heard from two people during public comment, including Logan Devicente, president of the Waterfront Parks Foundation.
“This is a public park, and it should be treated exactly the same as our other park systems along the waterfront here,” Devicente said of the pier and Spa Beach.
Devicente said he doesn’t necessarily have a take on the contract, but said this moment is an opportunity for the city to also take into account issues like wear and tear events cause and how to keep parts of the pier, like Spa Beach, resilient.
“Right now, you have one coordinator that’s focused on maximizing how they can have these events here, and then afterwards, dealing with the reverberation of sound issues, of issues with crowd control,” he said.
According to information from St. Petersburg Police Department, there were more than 62 calls about noise complaints during an electronic music festival in December.
Herendeen told council members that steps will be taken to make sure that never happens again. Devicente said he’d like the City Council to work in a more in-depth way with the foundation and other stakeholders to look at how volume issues and other violations are addressed.