The Borough Council voted to raise the fees for fire-safety permits in April 2008. A Type 1 permit — the kind of permit needed to set up tents outdoors, use flame-producing devices in any public gathering or operate certain types of cooking systems — cost $42 last year but now costs $100, Gregory explained.
A Borough fire inspector, who was granted anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press, confirmed that permit prices have increased.
The increase moves the Borough in line with nearby municipalities, Borough Administrator Robert Bruschi told the Borough Council, according to the Town Topics. This is the first time since 1994 that the Borough has raised permit prices.
Fire official William Drake explained that “the fees more closely represent the cost to the Borough of providing these inspections,” adding that the increase will boost revenue, the Town Topics reported.
The fee increase affects a wide range of events sponsored by the University and by student groups, Gregory said in an interview with The Daily Princetonian.
Many outdoor University-sponsored events use tents or an outdoor cooking system, Gregory explained, and the University is required to obtain permits for these events. Additionally, student groups holding cookouts or lighting fires either indoors or outdoors will be hit with the fee increase.
Since September, the University has spent “close to $800 on fire-permit fees where it would have spent half of that” before the hike, Gregory noted. The University needed permits for the dining tent at Wilson College and a tent that was set up at Whitman College, among other instances.
Gregory cited Theatre Intime as an example of a student group that will face higher fees. Since some of the group’s productions involve lighting candles, the group needs to pay for a fire permit for each show, he explained. “If you can’t raise ticket prices, that could be a problem,” he added.
The extra expense for the permits “takes a little bit away from props and set budget,” Theatre Intime business manager Daniel Posen ’09 said. “We’ve been talking to the University about ways to deal with the increase.”
The University will feel the effects of the increase more strongly in the spring, when events like Princeton Preview and Reunions require the University to set up a large number of tents and outdoor cooking facilities.
Gregory did not give an estimate for the total increase in the amount of money the University will pay the Borough but said that the increase will be “substantial.” The University will also have to obtain the more expensive permits for laboratories that store flammable liquids, he added.
While the fee increase may represent a very small percentage of the University’s operating budget, Gregory said he wants to try to save money while working within the fire code.
“I want to monitor the situation a little closer, to see how we can do things differently,” Gregory said, noting that tents smaller than 900 square feet or 30 feet in any direction don’t need permits and that the University could avoid fees by using smaller tents.
Class of 2009 president Grant Bermann said that the fee increase will probably affect events that the senior-class student government plans in the spring, including graduation and prom.
“We haven’t gotten precise numbers for the cost of those events, so we haven’t seen the impact yet,” Bermann explained.
“If it becomes a prohibitive cost, we could change the nature of some events, maybe move them indoors,” Bermann said, but he added that he did not think that the permit fees would be large relative to the $280,000 budget for the end-of-year events.
Other student leaders said that the increase has not substantially affected their plans.
Bini Dawit ’11, chair of the Mathey College council, said that the increase in permit fees has not “limited what we can do.”
Class of 2010 president Connor Diemand-Yauman said that though the increase is “significant,” he did not “perceive it getting in the way of planning class events.”
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