Mountain City proposes fees for events like Sunflower Festival and use of ball parks
MOUNTAIN CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) – The Town of Mountain City is proposing fees for events that block off the streets, food trucks and use of ball fields to help pay for the upkeep of parks.
Since the Sunflower Festival started in 2004, the Town of Mountain City has not charged a fee for having the event. With the proposed rates, there would be a $200/hour fee charged for closing off the street for the festival.
Sunflower Festival Co-organizer Renee Proffitt said the festival committee is not opposed to helping the community with fees if it's for Parks & Recreation, but the timing is too soon.
'Our festival is less than three months away and here you're proposing that you put on this fee on top of it,' Proffitt said. 'We have no time to collect back from our vendors to pass that along to them because we've already collected.'
Vendors for the Sunflower Festival have already submitted their fees to be set up at the event.
With Mountain City's proposed rates, food trucks will also have to pay $50 for an event or pay $250 for a year permit.
'I've had concerns from the brick and mortar shops that has delis and restaurants and they're upset that they have to pay property taxes on their brick and mortar building, and the food trucks get to come in all scot-free, they don't have to pay a fee,' Jerry Jordan, Mountain City Mayor, said.
Jordan said the Town provides police labor and trash pick up for events that block off the street, like the Sunflower Festival.
'We have to use extra labor, whether it be the police department or the street public works, we want to try and recoup some of that money,' Jordan said.
Jordan also said he's had people ask what the money from the Sunflower Festival goes towards.
'I mean evidently as big as it's been getting, there's been a lot of money come in and people ask me 'where does this money go? Does it go towards scholarships?' But we've never seen a financial statement showing this is how much it costs and this was our expenses, and this is for the next festival, or [payment] for amenities,' Jordan said.
Proffitt said the Sunflower Festival funds go towards the festival itself, like paying entertainers, or to the community and helping festival volunteers.
'The Positive Thinkers [organization], they help us and we give back to them so they can give Christmas for kids, presents for them,' Proffitt said. 'Then we give back to the volleyball team so they can purchase whatever equipment they might need or anything. Help girls go to camp for the volleyball team. That's what we try to do is to give back.'
'We just today just went and bought about $500 worth of Easter stuff for the community to give out to have for their Easter egg hunt,' Proffitt said. 'That's what we try to give back to the community, and we don't take nothing home.'
The proposed fees would also affect those wanting to use the town-owned baseball fields.
News Channel 11 reached out to the Johnson County Little League Baseball President, Josh Allen, about the proposed fees.
He said the Town has not contacted him about proposed fees yet, but he plans to have a representative at the next Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting.
'I would hope they would not put a fee on the little league kids,' Allen said. 'We have paid for all the work on the fields. We put over $6,000 in our little league baseball field just this past year.'
'We only charge $45 a kid, which is half of what surrounding counties charge just to keep it a respectable amount,' Allen said. 'Little league is obviously a nonprofit organization, we are blessed with great sponsors. There is not a whole lot for the youth in this county. Little league and sports in general are a lot of these kids' saving grace.'
Allen said they will seek a waiver if they must.
'The little league, they pay for the lights at the Cunningham Park and they keep the fields; they do all the maintenance and all that,' Mayor Jordan said. 'So it's reasonable, understandable to waive those fees for what they do.'
Mayor Jordan encourages any event organizer to talk to the Town about waivers or lowering the proposed fees.
'If we're wavered this year and then lowered for next year, then we can plan for it and hopefully we can all work something out with that,' Proffitt said.
Proffitt said if the fees are approved, then they might have to raise their vendor fees next year.
Sunflower Festival organizers have also started a petition to get support for not having the proposed fees this year.
Mayor Jordan said the Town is not trying to impose any hardships on the Sunflower Festival as they bring in a lot of people and are great for tourism.
He said these proposed fees are not set in stone yet.
The proposed fees are included in the Town of Mountain City's budget for the fiscal year 2025-26. The fees would start on July 1.
Jordan said there might be a discussion at the May 6 BMA meeting but not a vote on the budget.
He said the first reading about the budget will take place on June 3rd.
The Sunflower Festival is set to take place on Saturday, July 12, from 9-5 pm on West Main Street in Mountain City.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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