In fact, he said, there is no support on the Town Board for charging fees to any nonprofit organization for a special event permit, required for events with more than 100 people attending.
The town has traditionally waived the special event fee for those events. But a recent legal opinion from deputy town attorney Ann Marie Prudenti said the town should not waive the fee for nonprofits since the fees are meant to defray costs incurred by the town.
Town Board members, however, said they were hesitant to charge such a heavy fee for events that have been popular for so many years.
The Polish Town Festival in August, for example, and the Country Fair in October are each more than 30 years old, while the Blues Festival will be 10 years old this July.
"We asked for an opinion from counsel and she said we would have to be careful if we waived the fee for one event and not another," Mr. Cardinale said this week. "There has to be a real public purpose involved."
He said the town is studying the issue to make sure its practices are in compliance with case law rulings on the subject. But he added that, currently, the town's laws allow it to waive special event fees for nonprofit organizations and there is "no groundswell of support on the Town Board to change that."
Or perhaps board members feared the wrath of Burte Harris of the Polish Town Civic Association, who was quoted last Thursday in The News-Review criticizing the plan to charge a fee. Ms. Harris said that by the next morning, "I got notification that the town is waiving the fees for nonprofits."
Mr. Cardinale specifically mentioned Ms. Harris by name in a WRIV radio interview that morning, saying the town no longer planned to charge the fee. The supervisor admitted that he did, in fact, get angry calls from Ms. Harris and others.
He also said that, if the organizations wish, the town would even cover the $100 fee for use of the showmobile by the Polish Town Festival, Country Fair and Blues Festival. The supervisor said that money would come from the $17,200 he donated back to the town at the beginning of the year, a result of his turning down a salary increase last year above the rate of inflation.
Mr. Cardinale said Suffolk County and other East End towns don't charge special event fees to nonprofit organizations and noted that most of the special events held in town are sponsored by nonprofits.
"The law that's in effect now will continue to be in effect," he said.