City Fee Waiver Criteria

At a glance

Based on auto-generated captions; names and numbers may be misheard.

What: A committee conversation, prompted by R-39-26 Clydesdale Event Fee Waiver, about whether the city should set criteria, caps or baselines for waiving fees on events.
Where it stands: No action. The committee agreed to take the topic up at its next meeting with the staff member who manages these requests, then consider a resolution and a budget cap.
Main ideas: Criteria published ahead of time so applicants can self-screen; a budgeted annual cap on waivers with ranked applications; partial waivers (for example half) for very large events; a baseline of city resources per event; asking applicants what they donate to charity.

Alderman Thorp wanted criteria, a deadline to have them before the next annual fee-waiver block, and a budgeted cap. Alderman Huntley cautioned against forcing every case into one box but wanted to work toward a resolution and a budget cap.
Alderwoman O'Neill favored a common baseline to avoid favoritism by ward and to help groups that do not know to ask, and asked why fees exist if they are routinely waived.
Members noted that waivers are currently unlimited and that staff may already screen requests informally.

About 15 minutes across 1 meeting (from transcript timestamps; approximate).

Meeting	Minutes
2026-10-21 - Finance Committee	15

2026-10-21 - Finance Committee - Wide-ranging discussion of criteria, caps and baselines (47:33-1:03:01). Agreed to invite the staff member who manages these requests to the next meeting. No vote.