The ghost of a fee hike proposed to bring extra income to Butler has cost Main Street one of the four annual events that would have been affected.

The Rodfathers of Butler is moving Cruise-A-Palooza — a popular summer staple of two decades — to the Butler Farm Show grounds in Connoquenessing Township in 2015.

And representatives of another event, Butler Fall Fest, will consider at its membership meeting next week the possibility of moving out of the city.

The heart of the problem, organizers say, is a proposal by the city to increase the amount organizations reimburse the city for police and maintenance costs from 25 percent to 50 percent.

City council, looking at ways to belt-tighten, talked about the proposal this summer. But council never voted on it.

The proposed ordinance was tabled at the July 24 council meeting, and “it never came back,” said city clerk Mindy Gall. “Nothing has changed.”

Mayor Tom Donaldson said, “We had a discussion about it because we had to. To date this year, for example, city police have incurred about $12,000 in overtime fees for events. We were reimbursed $3,000. That means the residents of the city chipped in $9,000 in police costs alone. We can’t afford that ... However, if (Cruise-A-Palooza) is moving because of the fees, that’s regrettable. We did not raise them.”

John Malinski, president of the Rodfathers Association, said, “They never got back to us after that (July) meeting. We have heard nothing.”

Malinski and Dan Cunningham, the group’s publicity director, said now is the time that commitments must be made with vendors, entertainment, crafters and others to get ready for the 2015 cruise. The group said it already has gotten responses from vendors that they were not interested in paying more, which could include new licensing requirements and permitting fees in the city.

“It’s just too much of a hassle,” Malinski said of the Main Street location. “The fees are the big problem, but there’s other issues over the years and the fees just pushed us over.”

The city, when considering the change in fees, said last year the overtime costs of those events ranged from about $1,300 to $6,100, with organizers responsible for paying $330 to $1,500 in support. Overtime costs for Cruise-A-Palooza in 2014, for example, were $4,728. The group paid $1,182, and it would have paid $2,364 under the new proposal.

“It doesn’t sound like much, but everything we have is donations,” said Malinski, who noted that proceeds from all of the Rodfathers events, generated by vendors and T-shirt sales, annually are donated to eight charities.

Malinski said when considering all factors, including insurance, it will cost the group about half as much to hold Cruise-A-Palooza at the Farm Show Grounds.

“We want to continue this event and continue to make it free to the public,” Cunningham said.

The group’s board and membership, a total of 40 people, on Oct. 21 voted unanimously to move Cruise-A-Palooza to the Farm Show Grounds and hold it June 21.

“This is a huge loss to downtown,” said Chelynne Curci, Main Street manager for Butler Downtown. “Even though it’s held on a Sunday, it’s a really great event that brings people downtown. They see the business and the signs.”

Four other events would be subject to the fees if they are increased: the Jeep Invasion during the annual Bantam Jeep Heritage Festival, the Butler Road Race and the Butler Fall Festival.

Sheri Hershberger, the president of the Butler Fall Festival, said her group also is concerned about the possible fees and impact.

“We are going to make a final evaluation of our location on Nov. 7,” Hershberger said.

Mike Franko, president of the Butler Road Race, said that event will remain in the city where it has been for more than four decades. The next race is scheduled for June 27.

Questions about the Jeep festival were referred to Jack Cohen, president of the Butler County Tourism and Convention Bureau. He could not be reached Monday.

Jim Lokhaiser, recording secretary of the Farm Show, said that the 105-acre facility is “happy to have (the Rodfathers), and we’ll do our best to accommodate them.”

The Rodfathers a few years back held an event at the farm show grounds in addition to the Cruise-A-Palooza in the city. However, the Rodfathers stopped that because two major events was overwhelming to the organization, Cunningham said.