ERIC HORCHY
| The Suncoast News
Published: September 4, 2011
NEW PORT RICHEY – Chasco Fiesta, Pasco County’s oldest community festival, may leave its longtime home base in downtown New Port Richey if money issues between event organizers and the city cannot be resolved.
Chasco Fiesta Steering Committee Executive Director Kristen King said Tuesday that the group has been in contact with “four to five” possible alternative host cities within the past two to three weeks.
King declined to offer specifics about which cities had been contacted.
Organizers of the 11-day community celebration, first held in 1922 and continuously since 1947, have been at odds with New Port Richey officials over operating costs the city traditionally has covered.
Of the 18 special events listed on a cost-analysis spreadsheet provided by the city, Chasco was by far the most expensive for New Port Richey to help operate over the last year.
Chasco received $87,793.57 of the $163,938.39 the city pitched in to help run all the events, according to the analysis.
The next closest event in terms of costs covered by the city is the Holiday Parade at $19,413.24.
Library Director and Special Projects Coordinator Susan Dillinger said in an email that the total dollar amounts are rough estimates compiled by various department heads and accounting for all city-related costs is being refined.
If Chasco Fiesta has to pay a large portion of that nearly $88,000 tab, the event would have to leave the city, King said.
Not yet knowing what the committee might have to pay if Chasco were to stay in New Port Richey is a problem, she said.
“Chasco does not want to leave the city of New Port Richey,” King said. “But it’s really hard to work an event when you don’t know what all the charges are going to be.
“We have been in contact with a few people and right now we’re looking at about four to five different venues. Obviously, our first goal is to try and keep it in the city of New Port Richey. Our second goal would be to try and keep it in Pasco County. We would hate to see it have to move outside of (Pasco).”
Funding issues for Chasco and other special events are expected to be discussed during a Sept. 8 meeting of the New Port Richey Special Events Advisory Committee. With no staff or city council input permitted at committee meetings, though, no official actions can be taken that evening.
While Chasco Fiesta and other downtown special events have sparked impassioned discussions between the city and event supporters, City Manager John Schneiger wrote in an email that he would like to see the two sides work together.
“My sense is that there is support for funding at some level,” Schneiger wrote. “Chasco is, from what I can tell, the highest priority.
“I think it’s important for us to see what they bring to the table. We are looking for a two not one-way street.”
King said she has met with all city department heads to discuss ways to reduce Chasco-related expenses, such as having more volunteers do various tasks instead of city staff.
Unfortunately, many Chasco Fiesta costs are fixed and can’t be reduced, King said.
For example, though volunteers set up and take down the crowd control barricades that line the downtown route of the Chasco Fiesta street parade, city employees have to be responsible for the barricades used to block intersections during the parade because of liability issues, she said.
While the Chasco committee is hoping for a compromise with New Port Richey, King said, it needs to be ready for any worse-case scenarios unfolding.
“I think that we keep hoping for a resolution and we still are,” she said, “but as time keeps progressing and we still don’t know exactly what’s going on, we came to the understanding that we need to at least prepare ourselves.”
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