Will Permit Fees Kill Rock Festival? : Concerts: Promoter predicts 30,000 to 60,000 a day will attend. He’s sold 7,000 tickets so far. And San Bernardino County wants $150,000.

Between 30,000 and 60,000 people per day will attend a three-day pop-rock festival over Labor Day weekend at Glen Helen Regional Park in San Bernardino, the festival promoter predicted Thursday.

But a top county official said that promoter Michael Scafuto must pay more than $150,000 in overdue permit fees by next Friday if the Rock ‘n’ Roll’s Main Event is to proceed. Scafuto denied that he is delinquent on permit fees and said the matter will be resolved by next week.

The Sept. 1-3 affair--featuring about 50 acts, ranging from rock “oldies” such as Jerry Lee Lewis and Fats Domino to such contemporary artists as country singer Tanya Tucker and R&B; group Tony! Toni! Tone!--would be the first major pop event at the San Bernardino site since the US Festivals in early ‘80s.

Scafuto, a Montclair nightclub owner who has been producing concerts and festivals in California for five years, said that he has invested more than $900,000 in the project since 1988 and that he estimates the production costs at an eventual $2.5 million.

Portions of the festival are slated to be broadcast live during the Muscular Dystrophy annual telethon to more than 200 stations nationwide. Steve Ackerson, regional director of the Muscular Dystrophy Assn., says Scafuto has pledged $100,000 or 10% of the profits from the event to the Muscular Dystrophy Assn.

A permit for the three-day festival was approved by the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors on June 24, but Supervisor Jon Mikels said this week that Scafuto still owes more than $150,000 in fees contracted to finance emergency services provided by various governmental agencies. The fees were originally due July 1, Mikels said.

Doug Hawthorne, chief of park operations for the San Bernardino Regional Parks Department, said Scafuto has been given an extension until next Friday on the fees.

“The county has the option at that point to terminate the contract, but we’re working with the promoter,” Hawthorne said. “Its up to Mr. Scafuto to make the final decision as to what he wants to do.”

Scafuto said he has already spent more than $100,000 on an environmental-impact study required by the county. He said that he also agreed to pay $144,000 for use of the park plus pending permit fees, but complained that San Bernardino officials consistently inflated costs for security and additional services as the project proceeded.

“When we made the original deal to put on this festival, nobody ever mentioned anything about all these other fees,” Scafuto said. “I didn’t realize I was going to have to pay for the entire county of San Bernardino to come to the party.”

Scafuto said more than 7,000 tickets had been sold through Thurdsay noon to the outdoor affair, which will also feature carnival rides and crafts booths.

“Let’s face it, this is a major undertaking. It’s not everyday that you get a chance to see this many kinds of American music on one stage at one time,” Scafuto said. “We’re trying to create something that has never been done before. We view this as a unique historical event.”