RiverWinds Concert Series Survives Tight Vote

A move to charge admission for the shows, privatize the series or do away with it entirely fell apart Thursday night, as Deputy Mayor Sean Kilpatrick split from his Republican allies on township committee to side with the Democrats and keep West Deptford’s annual Streetfest going as a free public event this year.

The final call came after half an hour of wrangling over the series’ cost and benefits, as Mayor Ray Chintall and committeeman Sam Cianfarini suggested alternatives to the proposal put together by recreation director Greg Ley.

Before casting the deciding vote in the 3-2 decision, Kilpatrick, who heads up the parks department, said he believes the benefits of the concerts outweigh their cost.

“We have to keep in mind, this is for the community,” Kilpatrick said.

Chintall and Cianfarini pushed a more nickel-and-dime approach to the series, however, suggesting the concerts are a drag on the township’s budget.

“You’ve got a situation here where you’ve got a potential loss for the township,” Cianfarini said, before making a motion—one that ultimately died on the table—to make the series contingent on raising all the money to cover its costs.

Last year, , and between sponsorships and vendors, the township recouped $30,750. The two Republicans also cited the police costs as a factor—about $16,000, according to Cianfarini—which would bring the total cost, minus the sponsorships and vendor fees, to $18,750, or about 0.06 percent of the entire township budget last year.

Cianfarini went so far as to suggest taking the series completely away from the township, putting it on the catering company who wins the bid and allowing them to figure out how to recover the costs—including possibly charging for the concerts.

Chintall, too, raised concerns over the costs of the concerts, but also took a somewhat isolationist stance, complaining of the fact that nonresidents take advantage of the series, while the township doesn’t get financial help from the county.

“I have no problem with the concerts,” he said. “Right now, every dollar counts.”

Ley noted the concerts, not including the police costs—which he said he’d never been asked to try to cover before—had actually made money in the past, bringing in $500 over the cost of the bands in 2010 and more than $4,000 over the cost of the bands in 2008.

But Ley said the series—the proposal for which had been in since February—had to be approved so he could send out sponsorship letters.

“I cannot do that until we have a concert series locked in place,” he said.

Committeewoman Denice DiCarlo came to Ley’s defense, and said the committee needs to trust him to do his job in trying to ensure the concerts aren’t a burder.

“It looks to me lie his goal is to recover 100 percent of the costs,” she said.

Likewise, committeewoman Donna Szymborski said that while the balance of expenses and donations can be improved, the concert series is vital to the township’s identifty.

“This is what makes West Deptford,” she said. “This is what brings our community together.”