Nearly 400 celebrations take place in Seattle every year. But in this year there will be a major change for those special events. For some events, cost to get a permit has been increased.

BECU Georgetown Cycling Criterium had planned to cancel their race. Race Director Ian Mensher said that, last year permit cost of the race was $1,300. This year it has increased to $5,300. Mensher said,  "My thought was that we probably couldn't do the event. It's a lot of money."

The City of Seattle needs a Special Event Permit for city events which block streets or requires significant City resources. The city calculated permit costs based on the size of the event or how many people would attend the event. According to a Seattle spokesperson, the city subsidized the event "by recouping only 10-20 percent of the City's cost to support them."

Chris Swenson, Seattle Special Events Program Manager wrote in an email, "Realizing the City's financial and logistical support for this continued growth was not sustainable. In 2012 the City began work with event organizers, neighborhoods, and peer cities to review and update Seattle's Special Event Permit policies and fees,"

In September 2015, the Seattle City Council passed an ordinance changing its special event permit fee structure. City officials estimated that fees went up for 45 percent of events and went down for the remaining 55 percent events this year.

In the case of the BECU Georgetown Criterium, this meant the city was now charging for street use, and each of the 11 police officers needed to control traffic at the event.

"We really couldn't have done it without them," said Mensher.

For BECU Georgetown Criterium, that's likely an $8,000 bill in 2017. Mensher said that he wanted to keep the race going in Georgetown. Mensher said, “there really aren't that many races and the more that we lose, the more we feel we need to step up as a club"

Mensher's race was not the only one affected. The Ballard Criterium also had to find additional sponsorship dollars to cover their permit costs.

By Prakriti Neogi