Fort Lauderdale aims to collect ‘impact fee’ money from events like Tortuga Music Festival

Fort Lauderdale, with its palm-lined sandy beach and booming downtown, makes a great stage for events both big and small, from the wildly popular Tortuga Music Festival to the well-attended Publix Fort Lauderdale A1A Marathon.

But by next year, promoters may have to fork over more money to host those events in Fort Lauderdale.

The current plan is to charge higher fees for outdoor events both on and off the barrier island that are not organized by the city. The bigger the event and the bigger the impact, the steeper the fee.

Because the city already recoups full cost recovery for onsite services, including public safety, the “impact fee” makes up a fraction of the overall costs.

“We’re trying to secure enough funding to compensate the city for the impact these events have,” Mayor Dean Trantalis said. “Staff came up with a matrix the city feels is consistent with what it should collect to compensate for the wear and tear of the site. But keep in mind, we’re not going to do what Miami does and charge $2 million to Ultra Music Festival.”

Based on a recent proposal presented to the Fort Lauderdale commission, beach usage fees paid by Tortuga organizers would increase the most, from $13,700 to $70,000. The fee for the Fort Lauderdale Air Show would rise from $2,700 to $13,000 while the A1A Marathon would go from $200 to $3,000.

The fee matrix is still in the works but is expected to be in place by next year.

It would take into account crowd size; the number and duration of road closures; whether public access to a city park is restricted; whether the event takes place on the beach or during turtle season; the duration for event setup and breakdown; and whether the event calls for amplified music and the serving of alcohol.

“We still haven’t settled on this matrix yet,” Trantalis said. “They’ll apply the matrix to every event, but the scale of the event will impact the fee.”

Downtown resident Stan Eichelbaum said he thinks the city should raise the fees even higher.

“When you consider the traffic and disruption on the beach, $70,000 for Tortuga doesn’t even make a dent,” he said. “Even if it were $70,000 a week that wouldn’t be enough.”

But even with large events like Tortuga, the fee scale is not intended to be over the top, the mayor said.

“We love Tortuga and we embrace the event every year,” Trantalis said of the three-day music festival, which kicks off April 4. “But it does have an impact on the beach. They do clean up, but it still requires the city to add to their efforts to bring the beach back to the condition it was before. There’s wear and tear on everything, the roads, the beach. We want to make sure we are compensated.”

‘There’s an inconvenience cost’

Fort Lauderdale already collects the full amount of what it costs to provide city services for special events, including police, fire/emergency medical services, parking and cleanup. Each event is required to put 110% of the estimated costs for onsite personnel into escrow before the event.

Last year, the Fort Lauderdale Air Show was required to put $254,000 into escrow based on the city’s $231,000 estimate. Most of the money went to police ($110,000) and fire ($45,000).

Tortuga organizers put $720,656 in escrow based on the city’s estimate of $655,000 for last year’s three-day beachfront concert.

“Here’s why we need to increase our fees,” Commissioner Ben Sorensen told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “There’s impact beyond the articulated expenses. There’s impact on residents who can’t get to the beach parking lot because of Tortuga. We charge for those spaces, but we don’t charge for the inconvenience of our residents not being able to get to the beach as easily. There’s an inconvenience cost and that’s one reason we’re going to increase permit fees.”

Officials with Tortuga and the Fort Lauderdale Air Show could not be reached for comment.

Fort Lauderdale plans to hike its application fees based on a multiplier that takes into account the size and impact of each event, said Carl Williams, the city’s parks director.

“The change allows us to charge additional fees, because they are currently low, based on event impact and application fee,” Williams said.

Too many events?

There’s also talk of limiting the number of events on the beach and in the downtown area.

Fort Lauderdale plays host to 350 events a year — and 45 of those are on the beach.

That’s way too many, Sorensen says.

“I want to cap the number of events on the beach and downtown too,” Sorensen said. “I want to be more selective about the events we do allow.”

City officials are also considering whether to collect a surcharge on ticketed events, including Tortuga.

“I think it’s worth looking at,” Vice Mayor Steve Glassman said. “It’s not uncommon across the country. I think we can, without reinventing the wheel, look at some of the best practices.

“For the most part, and I hear this a lot from beach residents in particular, they feel that especially with some of the really large events that make a lot of money, that we don’t get quite as much as we should.”

A ‘wall-to-wall’ crowd

As president of the Venetian Condo Association, John Burns says he gets complaints from neighbors about the city’s long list of beach events, including Tortuga.

“The beach has learned to live with it, but when they let out 20,000 people at the end of the night, it’s a wall-to-wall mob of people that take over the streets,” Burns told the Sun Sentinel.

“Some of these multimillion-dollar events could pay more,” he added. “Although they are a benefit to the city, they also create traffic and delays.”

Is he worried about Tortuga finding another home? Not a bit.

“I think Tortuga has made a brand name for themselves in Fort Lauderdale,” Burns said. “It’s kind of like the boat show. They’ve made their brand name here.”

Beach resident Bob Casullo said he likes the idea of higher fees and cutting back on the number of events at the beach.

“There seems to be an event going on every weekend,” Casullo said. “The city should get paid for it. Tortuga has become a major event. I certainly wouldn’t want them to move to another city. But I don’t think Tortuga is going to pack their bags and move elsewhere.”

Glassman agrees.

“I think the promoters have found a really good home for these events,” he said. “I don’t think they’re going to look elsewhere. Where are they going to go — Tamarac?”

Some event promoters might oppose the higher fees and the cap on events, Sorensen said.

“I get that,” he said. “But 350 events in the city is a lot. I think we can narrow that. If some of them want to go to another city because of cheaper permit fees, I understand. But we have to respect the folks who live here and work here and vacation here.”

Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com. Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan

Originally Published: March 27, 2025 at 3:44 PM EDT