KENNEBUNKPORT –– The issue of whether the town of Kennebunkport should pay for part of the annual Christmas Prelude is going to voters.
The Select Board voted last week to put the issue on the June 9 referendum, in an attempt to determine who should cover overtime costs for town personnel during the event.
“The safety protocols have needed to be ramped up over the past few years,” said Kennebunkport Town Manager Laurie Smith. “The expense from prelude has been, I’d say, bubbling up.”
The event has taken place in town for 44 years, Smith said. In recent years, the event has taken place over two weekends, with some activities taking place in the week in between.
Prelude is presented largely by the Kennebunkport Business Association. To keep activities safe, Smith said the town has had to have police, fire and public works crews on hand working overtime. In recent years, she said, that has added up to as much as $35,000.
During the current budget process, Smith said, a resident brought a local mass gathering ordinance to the town’s attention that suggested the town may not be responsible for paying those expenses after all.
“That advice became clear that the way the current ordinance is written, that Prelude is identified as a commercial event and as such should be billed for those expenses,” Smith said.
Smith said the board, instead of deciding on its own what to do, has elected to put the issue before voters on the referendum on June 9. Smith said voters will be asked if they wish to fund all of the overtime expenses, none of them or half of them.
