"Absolutely absurd": Surrey festival drowning in $20,000 RCMP bill, rising costs

As the lack of funding and sponsorships threaten several long-running events in BC, organizers of one local festival are highlighting just how “astronomical” the costs of hosting public events have gotten.

Organizers of the 5X Festival, Canada’s largest South Asian youth event, said that last year they were handed a $20,000 bill to pay for policing alone. 

Harpo Mander, the general manager for the festival, admitted she and her colleagues were not given a quote and didn’t fully understand how the bill could run that high. 

“You really don’t know what you’re paying for and you don’t know how much you’re going to pay. You just sort of receive it. So it makes budgeting really hard,” she said. 

What Mander did know was that money would go towards having RCMP officers on site. This included a “base setup” behind the stage and for the cost of officers deployed to the area.

“But it would be super ideal to see a breakdown of what their services were useful.”

As most of you know, I’m General Manager for 5X Fest. For our 2022 fest, the @SurreyRCMP charged us $20,000 FOR ONE EVENT. See invoice attached pic.twitter.com/xeiuipXW4T

— harpo (@harpokm) January 25, 2023

Policing at events is mandatory since it’s part of the City’s events planning structure. Surrey RCMP work with the City of Surrey FEST (Festival and Support Team) to assess what security is needed at the event. 

“Part of this involves a risk assessment based on the information provided by event organizers and partner agencies. There are many factors that go into the risk assessment and how many policing resources may be required for an event, including crowd estimates, type of event, venue, etc.,” RCMP explained to Daily Hive. 

“In [5X Festival’s] case, the event was a ticketed event; however, there was also a point in the event where the gates were being opened, free of charge, to the public,” RCMP added. “Crowd estimations were therefore not fully predictable, and were based on information and estimates provided from the organizers. There was also a portion of the event (VIP area) which did serve alcohol.”

Last year, 5X was a ticketed event but was free for children under 11 years old. Mander admitted there was a VIP area which was licensed.

However, she added, “Although we respect public safety and security, this bill was absolutely absurd.” Especially since the block party has never had an issue with fights, she pointed out.

On top of the $20,000 for RCMP, the event paid an additional $12,000 for private security, according to Tarun Nayar, executive director of the 5X Festival.

Absurd costs associated with events spark fear of future

For the second year, several high-profile events have announced they’ve been forced to cancel. 

“And then when [we] get hit with a $20,000 RCMP bill,” she emphasized. “It really doesn’t make it easy for organizations like 5X doing meaningful work to exist.”

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Apart from rising production costs, Nayar added, “It’s also that people have less money to spend.”

If costs continue to increase, Mander admitted the festival may not be able to sustain the “absurd” costs and lack of support for live music events.

RCMP has said that the costs for policing at events have also risen since 2019. 

Support for arts and culture needed

In light of rising costs, 5X fest is calling on the City to support arts and culture events like theirs.

Prior to 2018, 5X fest was hosted in Vancouver. Mander suggests that the City of Surrey adopt a similar policy to Vancouver’s FestShare program. 

This is really the point we’d like to drive home. The City is obviously committed to music, as showcased by its new Surrey Music Strategy. We’d like for the City to take this commitment further by supporting grassroots organizations with huge costs like policing. https://t.co/GijmotVGbL

— harpo (@harpokm) January 25, 2023

According to the City of Vancouver, the annual Festshare budget covers operational costs for events that are free and open to the public and take place on City property.

Coverage includes all operating expenses up to $1,000 and the deployment of staff (including VPD) and equipment for public safety. Operational costs between $1,001 and $75,000 are eligible for 75% of coverage. 

@CityofVancouver has made an explicit policy to address this ongoing concern by offering grants to cover the costs of @VancouverPD for public events. As a charity that works hard to put on events for our community, we’re calling on the @CityofSurrey to step up.

— harpo (@harpokm) January 25, 2023

Daily Hive asked the City of Surrey if it has funding supports available, and the Parks, Recreation & Culture Department responded that the Policing Grant program is accessible. 

In 2015, the City implemented the program “to reduce the burden of policing costs borne by community groups for events, parades and festivals that provide free admission for the public.”

Through this program, organizers are eligible for a grant of up to 50% of invoiced policing costs, to a maximum of $55,000. 

“5X Block Party was awarded this policing grant in 2019 when the event was free and open to the public,” the City explained. 

However, since the 5X Block Party was mainly a ticketed event and closed to the public, the City said it made the festival ineligible to apply “as it no longer meets the Policing Grant program requirements.”

For those of you asking to see the invoice breakdown👇🏽 Also linking the @CityofVancouver ‘s FestShare Program link https://t.co/e5OaKRjlTI as the model we’re calling on @CityofSurrey to consider pic.twitter.com/BPxPcVamPh

— harpo (@harpokm) January 26, 2023

Without funding, Nayar said, “it’s starting to feel a lot like the very institutions that should be there to support arts and culture in the city are sort of creating obstacles.”

“It’s making less and less sense to us why we’re paying these exorbitant policing bills, and it’s starting to feel a lot like the very institutions that should be there to support arts and culture in the city are sort of creating obstacles,” he added. 

Considering 5X attendees are also taxpaying citizens, Nayar said it feels like “double paying.” 

“It feels weird to get dinged twice to go out and enjoy arts and culture in your city.”

With files from Amir Ali and Daniel Chai