LOVELOCK - Pershing County and Burning Man officials reached a last-minute deal on county costs to be covered this year by Black Rock City, the organization in charge of the event.
The 11th-hour agreement was needed for BRC to meet federal permit requirements; otherwise, organizers would be out of compliance, placing the famous event, which begins this week in the Black Rock Desert, in jeopardy.
The agreement commits BRC to further "good faith" negotiations with the county after the event over unforeseen law enforcement and county costs as a result of Burning Man.
For now, BRC agreed to pay a total of $200,000 for county law enforcement and prosecution costs but may get hit with more county cost after the Burning Man event.
The agreement requires a payment to the county of $100,000 by Sept. 2 on top of the $100,000 already paid in February "for services of any kind supplied by the county."
BRC agreed to a possible third payment if needed after the event to cover additional county expenses such as unanticipated sheriff's costs due to a major crime with serious bodily harm or for more than 350 law enforcement calls during the festival.
Up to 68,000 "burners" are expected to camp out on the Black Rock Playa between Aug. 26 and Sept. 2, multiplying by 10 the population in Pershing County. Sheriff's deputies hired for the event will be "integrated" with BLM
- See BURNING MAN, Page 23 -
officers and extra mattresses may be needed at the 25-bed county jail in Lovelock for those arrested.
District Attorney Jim Shirley has asserted time and again that county taxpayers should not be burdened by the event, including criminal prosecution and administration costs.
"It's an impact on the county and we shouldn't be devoting the resources of any of our offices to Burning Man when we have serious county issues we should be addressing," Shirley said. "If it's 20 or 50 felonies or whatever comes out of the event, the taxpayers shouldn't have to foot the bill for that."
In July, county officials presented Burning Man organizers with a "cost impact agreement" asking for $60,000 to cover prosecution and other county costs in addition to law enforcement costs. BRC agreed to a law enforcement budget of $165,000 but refused to accept the county's additional charges for prosecution costs and administration fees.
As a result, closed-door negotiations continued on a final law enforcement services agreement to comply with the BLM special recreation permit requirements for the event.
Last week, BRC government affairs director and Burning Man diplomat Ray Allen thanked county officials for the $200,000 settlement and said that discussions will continue for a long-term agreement on law enforcement and other county costs.
"The negotiation on this particular agreement has been going on since the (state) legislation passed," Allen said after the meeting. "We're there! We've got an agreement for this year that takes care of everything we wanted and everything the county wants."
Commissioners seemed less enthusiastic over the deal and had little or no comment after the meeting due to BRC's federal 2012 lawsuit against the county.
The litigation includes claims that county officials violated previous contracts with BRC and that the county's amended outdoor assembly ordinance would violate free speech at Burning Man. Additional claims against the county were dismissed by the federal court in April.
In July, county commissioners exempted BRC from the county event ordinance as agreed during hearings on state legislation, which allows counties to exempt from county ordinance federally-permitted events on public land. Shirley has since filed a "motion for summary judgment" on the BRC lawsuit asserting that the exemption of Burning Man from Pershing County event regulation negates the BRC claim of free speech rights violations at the event.
Shirley also argued this year's amendments to the county outdoor assembly ordinance did not violate previous county contracts with BRC.
A local resident, who asked to remain anonymous, recommended that other county residents check out the event before making negative assumptions. While riding along with the sheriff's department during a previous Burning Man, she observed nudity but little else that she considered offensive. She said she discovered that most of the participants were friendly, well-heeled professionals like doctors; not sex- or drug-crazed hippies that many locals assume must be in the majority at the counter-culture festival.
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