BREAKING: Burning Man Reaches Deal with Pershing County

Last year, Burning Man sued Pershing County, objecting to their proposed increase in fees. At the time, the fear was that costs could skyrocket from $180,000 to half a million or more. Pershing County tried to get the case dismissed and the judge ruled it could proceed, which Burning Man claimed as a major victory for their side in the media. BMOrg tried to get the law changed in the Nevada Assembly, but this appeared to have backfired with Pershing County just embedding themselves with the Feds, and the police presence this year being so heavy handed some DPW workers threatened to strike over the issue.

Well, it seems that BMOrg have “settled all my lawsuits, fuck you Diddy Debbie!“…as Eminem says. And it seems that Pershing got everything they wanted, and more. The 10 year deal will see Pershing getting a minimum of $605,000 if Burning Man has less than 60,000 people, and almost a million dollars if there are more than 90,000 attendees. BMOrg are paying Pershing for the work they do, and paying them extra for the work they do with the Federal Bureau of Land Management. Presumably BLM will still get their 3% cut plus expenses, which came to almost $1.9 million last year.

In addition, Burning Man will pay all the legal costs for the police and DA, in relation to prosecution. This would put BMOrg on the side of the cops, financing their prosecution of Burners, which was one of the community objections in the Paul Addis affair. With only a couple of dozen arrests last year for mostly minor crimes, these might not be significant, but this uncapped exposure could turn out to be a really big deal in the event that something serious goes down.

From ABC News:

Burning Man organizers have agreed to pay the Pershing County sheriff’s office more than $600,000 a year over the next 10 years for security and other services at the annual counter-culture festival in the Black Rock Desert.

Black Rock City LLC, the San Francisco-based company behind Burning Man, also agreed to take out a $1 million insurance policy for the event and reimburse the sheriff and district attorney for costs related to prosecuting crimes at the festival, according to court documents filed in U.S. District Court in Reno last week.

The new agreement is intended to settle a lawsuit Black Rock City filed against the county a year ago challenging the constitutionality of a new county ordinance that requires the company to pay a $1.50-per-head fee for festivalgoers.

U.S. District Judge Robert C. Jones has scheduled a hearing in Reno Oct. 18 to consider Black Rock City’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit based on the new agreement. Pershing County is not contesting the motion.

The deal comes after Assemblyman David Bobzien, D-Reno, introduced a bill in the Legislature earlier this year seeking to prevent local governments from imposing fees on any gatherings already permitted on federal lands. The measure eventually was amended and signed into law, authorizing local governments to sign agreements with event organizers exempting them from other county ordinances and negotiated reimbursement for services.

Pershing County District Attorney James Shirley and county commissioners signed the new 10-year agreement Oct. 6, along with Raymond Allen, legal affairs manager for Black Rock City.

Under the deal, the payments to law enforcement will be based on a sliding scale depending on the peak attendance at the event that runs for eight days through Labor Day weekend about 100 miles north of Reno.

Last year’s peak attendance was an estimated 68,000, up from about 58,000 the year before.

Under the fee schedule, Black Rock City would pay $605,000 for crowds of fewer than 60,000 — $230,000 to the county for services it provides jointly with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and $375,000 for services it alone provides. The total climbs to $640,000 for peak population between 60,000 and 70,000, and rises as high as $975,000 if the peak surpasses 90,000. The scale also allows for increases to adjust for inflation.

The gathering, which draws people from around the world, is the largest permitted event on federal land in the United States.

After it moved from San Francisco’s Baker Beach, the inaugural Burning Man in Nevada drew some 80 people in 1990. The first 1,000-plus crowd was in 1993, and attendance doubled each of the next three years before reaching 23,000 in 1999. The crowd was capped at 50,000 under a five-year permit that expired in 2010. The current permit allows a maximum crowd of 70,000, but organizers applied for a cap of 68,000 before this year’s festival.

Lawyers for Black Rock City filed the lawsuit in Reno in August 2012 accusing Pershing County of violating their First Amendment rights by imposing fees for visitors to the event on BLM land.

Allen said the legislation helped pave the way for a resolution to their dispute.

“Our goal has always been to adequately compensate Pershing County for the services it provides to our event,” he said.

Good move, Burning Man. It’s always better to pay off the cops than sue them, if you have the choice.

We hope that this deal means the police will now ease off the escalation of harassment of Burners with sniffer dog teams imported from the border, and won’t be trying to impinge on our first amendment right for Radical Self-Expression – meaning, we can still run around naked if we want to. It remains to be seen whether BMOrg will add another $1.50 per day to the ticket prices to cover these new costs.