A Salt Lake City decision to begin billing parades, festivals, races and special parties for extraordinary city services will be "devastating" to the mosaic of cultural events that enlivens downtown on shoestring budgets, organizers say.

Yet that choice -- to enforce an obscure 16-year-old ordinance -- has been made by Mayor Ralph Becker. And it takes effect Friday.

The move, which could cost thousands for summer staples like the Days of '47, Utah Arts Festival, Living Traditions and Pride Parade, has special-permit holders wondering why they're suddenly being nickeled and dimed.

Worse, enforcement appears selective. The Pioneer Day Parade and fireworks show may be billed for setup, trash pickup and police overtime, while others could get a break depending on yet-to-be-determined criteria.

Police Chief Chris Burbank says his department now will tally its cost after each gathering and send the city a bill. On average, Burbank says, the police department spends $400,000 a year, including officer overtime, on special events.

The city argues it no longer has the resources to cover a public-event schedule that has multiplied in recent years to more than 300. Costs over and above "basic city services" eclipse a quarter of a million, officials say.

So, despite paying $15,000 to rent Library Square, Arts Festival executives will have to scrounge up much more next year (most events will be exempted from the higher fees this summer because they already have filed for the necessary permits).

"We bring in an influx of 80,000 people over four days into the downtown area," says festival executive director Lisa Sewell, trumpeting the economic boost her event brings. "There needs to be a little bit of a middle ground and recognizing what makes a community vibrant and alive.

"We're kind of a pain in the a-- sometimes. But I truly believe our community thinks it's worth it."

The timing has nothing to do with the recession, insist capital city chiefs who floated the idea before the economy tanked last year. "We're just charging them the services the city provides," explains Kevin Bergstrom, deputy director of public services. "There's no profit motive."

But Becky Edwards, a state lawmaker from North Salt Lake who serves on the Days of '47 board, says every government in Utah is scrambling to boost its bankroll.

"Everyone across the state is just combing their bylaws, their rules, their ordinances to see if there's anything possible," she says. "I'm sure that when they found this, there was some sigh of relief."

At the same time, Edwards cautions the new rule will be "just absolutely devastating to some of the smaller events."

"We would be poorer as a community to lose some of those."

Besides mammoths like the marathon and Pioneer Day Parade, permits range from street fairs to ethnic festivals. And the Gallivan Center hosts several hundred annual functions.

Joe Brown, co-chairman of the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade, says the police and cleanup bill will hurt the nonprofit organization that relies mostly on dues collected from members of the Hibernian Society of Utah.

"It might be time to get a corporate sponsor," Brown shrugs. "That's a lot of scratch."

The billing crackdown -- it will affect permits submitted only after May 1 -- comes on the heels of Becker's decision not to subsidize the city's annual jazz festival, citing the slim budget. And it may be part of a trend to scare up dollars wherever possible. During a budget hearing earlier this year to announce a multimillion-dollar sales-tax shortfall, accountants acknowledged revenue from citations, ranging from parking to snow removal, was significantly up.

Bergstrom notes "basic city services," cited under the ordinance, have been interpreted by different city regimes in different ways. "The [Rocky] Anderson administration took a pretty liberal interpretation," he says. "This administration is looking at it because of the crunch on resources a little more strictly."

Bergstrom adds, "We started down the road before we hit the economic skid."

Becker's spokeswoman says the city will encourage organizers to enlist volunteers to help haul trash. And even though the criteria to bill will be subjective, Bergstrom says the city wants to make it fair with "no favorites."

"That's a critical balancing piece of this whole equation," says City Councilman Eric Jergensen, who fears that smaller events may vanish.

The change will affect permits only in public spaces. That means city police cannot bill for staffing protests at LDS general conferences, since the main activity -- like a Utah Jazz game -- is on private property.

"It wouldn't be our intent to charge for free speech," Burbank says.

Even so, during high-profile events like the visits from then-President George W. Bush, the chief notes most of the cost the police department accrued came from monitoring protesters.

To compensate, Burbank supports charging special events for policing. And he has discussed reducing the number of officers on some occasions to shave costs.

"To charge for certain things is justifiable," says Natasha Hubbard, a veteran Utah event planner. "It's all about the communication."

But that is the problem, argues Valerie Larabee, executive director of the Utah Pride Center. To host its June festival, Utah Pride already pays the city $25,000 between a "huge" lease fee and 10 percent of alcohol sales.

"That's a big chunk of change," Larabee laments.

And it's about to go up.

djensen@sltrib.com

ncarlisle@sltrib.com