Last year, the city of Coronado waived $343,500 in costs for nonprofit-run special events like the Coronado Island Film Festival and the Coronado Flower Show — and it will continue to do so, the City Council decided.
During a lengthy discussion on Sept. 1, the council considered a staff-recommended overhaul of the city’s nonprofit fee waiver system, but ultimately decided to leave the current structure in place. Under that system, Coronado covered 93 cents of every dollar that certain events cost the city last year.
The proposed overhaul would have replaced the city’s current all-or-nothing approach to nonprofit fee waivers with four cost-sharing tiers. Had it been approved, both the Flower Show and the Film Festival would have owed the city money for the first time.
Instead, council members left both fully covered but did reclassify one event: the Low Tide Ride & Stride, a fundraising event that will now require full reimbursement of city fees, an estimated $2,410 per year.
Council members also voted to keep the city’s Orange Avenue banner program roughly as-is, alternating between nonprofit- and artist-focused years, and dropped a proposed banner application fee.
How nonprofit fee waivers work
For each event, the city tallies what its costs will be across four categories: the special event application fee itself; personnel costs for city staff who work the event; facility use fees; and equipment, materials, and contracting services. This includes things like police staffing a parade route, public works barricading streets, and rented equipment.
If an event is in the “full waiver” classification, the city simply does not bill for these costs. For other events, the city sends an invoice for the incurred costs.
The city’s rationale for absorbing these costs is more built on precedent than it is formally stated, but the reasoning came through during Tuesday’s deliberation. CIFF founder Doug St. Denis said the waiver dates to a conversation she had with then-City Manager Blair King when the festival was starting out.
“There is no way this film festival should have to pay for the rental of city facilities,” she recalled him saying, framing it as a low-cost civic partnership rather than a city expense.
Supporters have since made the economic case: events bring people — and their wallets — to Coronado. In addition to benefiting businesses, hotel rooms booked for events generate transient occupancy tax (TOT) for the city, so the waiver is more nuanced than a simple line item, supporters say.
A 2022 Arts and Economic Prosperity Study commissioned by the city’s Cultural Arts Commission found that 77 percent of non-resident attendees surveyed across Coronado’s arts and culture events said they’d traveled to the city specifically for one of those events — and would have gone elsewhere had it not been available.
The deliberations
The city supports nonprofits and community events through a patchwork of programs: In addition to fee waivers, Coronado gives over $1 million in community grants each year, offers Orange Avenue banner space to promote events, and provides free or discounted use of city facilities.
Those four programs, a staff report found, overlap more than previously realized.
Last year’s review covered 22 major and moderate special events, which together cost the city about $371,000. Of those, 11 received full fee waivers — accounting for the $343,500 figure — while the other 11 paid or reimbursed the city for their own costs, about $27,400 combined.
That same year, Coronado allocated roughly $1.12 million in community grants. The Coronado Floral Association, which hosts the Flower Show, received a $95,600 community grant in 2025, while CIFF received $50,000. (The organizations received the same grant allocations in 2026.)
Staff had proposed replacing the current all-or-nothing waiver system with four cost-sharing tiers, which would have required the Flower Show, CIFF, and Low Tide Ride & Stride to start paying a share of their event costs.
Film festival representatives packed the podium to push back. Multiple speakers argued that the waiver is a real financial cushion for CIFF. Board president Phil Garn described the festival as run on a “very tight budget.” CEO Merridee Book said the festival now pays rent on the Village Theater for the first time, further tightening things.
Councilmember Carrie Downey was the strongest voice questioning whether the festival still needs the same level of help it got at its start. She noted that the city’s backing has grown from an initial $50,000 seed grant to about $100,000 annually in combined grants and waived fees today, and argued that unlike free civic events like the Fourth of July parade, CIFF charges admission.
Her underlying question was whether an event that generates its own ticket should receive full public support rather than contributing something back, the way events like the Coronado Wine Festival do.
Downey ultimately voted to keep the festival’s waiver in place, but only after Mayor John Duncan made the case that the festival’s hotel tax impact during a slow week for tourism.
Councilmember Kelly Purvis ultimately moved to scrap the new tiers altogether, keeping the Flower Show and film festival at full cost coverage while shifting Low Tide Ride & Stride to full reimbursement because it is a fundraising event rather than a community event.
The council also directed staff to return with information on adding more median-sign locations along Orange Avenue.
