Pay to Play: That Beach Party May Cost You

East Hampton Village is considering charging for some private parties and mass gatherings that use village beaches and other public property.

“The beach is a public beach, and we’re trying to move away from the thought process that the beach, or the Main Beach pavilion, is a catering hall, which is what we’re seeing more and more each year,” Becky Molinaro, the village administrator, told the village board last Thursday.

Ms. Molinaro recommended a $100 fee for gatherings of more than 50 people on village property, and a $500 fee for mass gathering applications from nonresidents, caterers, or other commercial applicants. “And believe it or not, we do get a lot of requests from private homeowners to use the village beach parking lots for overflow parking for their private events.”

She also proposed that anyone who asks to use a beach parking lot in that way be charged $250. Residents seeking a permit for gatherings of fewer than 50 people would not be asked to pay a fee.

“We’re now into the year 2017,” Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. said, “and as time moves forward it’s just going to become more and more incumbent on the village to have a closer handle on certain of these mass assemblage and public gathering events.”

Also at the meeting, Ms. Molinaro recommended that $250,000 from the village’s existing fund balance be moved to the compensated absence reserve fund, which allows the village to set aside money for payouts due to employees when they leave village employment, and at least $300,000 be moved to the capital reserve fund.

“If you remember,” Ms. Molinaro said of a report last month from the village’s auditors, the fund balance “increased by over $1.1 million.” That allows the village to appropriate money to the two funds, as it did last year, Ms. Molinaro said. “If you want to discuss amounts over the $550,000 between those two funds, certainly feel free to do so. But those would be the minimum amounts that I would recommend.” The board accepted her recommendation and plans to vote on it at its Friday, Feb. 17, meeting.

The board also voted to accept Obron Farber’s resignation from the planning board and to appoint Arthur Graham as the planning board’s vice chairman.