By Chris Mannara
Staff Writer
The Town of Pagosa Springs’ fee schedule was amended by the Pagosa Springs Town Council at a regular meeting on July 7 in order to account for a recently purchased mobile event stage.
The stage was purchased for $83,000 by the Pagosa Area Tourism Board (PATB) in 2019 following approval from town council and the county commissioners.
A subcommittee meeting was held on June 17 with town staff, members of the PATB and the Pagosa Springs Area Chamber of Commerce to discuss policies for the stage and a fee structure.
During that meeting, the group discussed the idea of having a different fee structure for nonprofit versus private events; however, the subcommittee eventually decided to come up with one rental fee to make things easier.
According to agenda documentation for the July 7 meeting of town council, the town will be the owner and operator of the stage.
The daily rental fee for the stage is $600 per day, according to agenda documentation.
Additionally, the security deposit for the stage is a refundable $500 charge, and to rent stage wings it is a onetime charge of $35.
“We backed into that price of $600 per day by taking a look at what the town’s costs would be,” Phillips said.
The town did some research while crafting the fee schedule, and Phillips explained that this cost is “reasonable” compared to the city of Durango’s fees.
“Really, the goal of this is not to make money. It’s really to encourage more events in town and more usage of the stage. We’re really just trying to cover our costs at this point,” she said.
According to the policy, the stage is only available for use within a 5-mile radius of the Pagosa Springs Town Hall.
“We don’t want to become an equipment rental type of thing,” she said. “Most of the events would be in town, anyway.”
The motion to amend the town’s fee schedule in relation to the mobile event stage fees was approved unanimously by town council.
