Fees, Fees and More Fees

By Oliver Lukacs
Staff Writer

May 14 -- The City Council Tuesday night voted to raise renewal fees for business licenses, create landing and parking fees at the City’s airport and allow commercial property owners to park across their own driveways -- for a fee.

The $19 renewal fee to process business licenses and $10 fee for new licenses -- which will affect an estimated 20,000 businesses -- will generate at least $200,000 annually. The money will help bridge the City’s budget gap, which City officials estimate could be as high as $16.8 million in the upcoming fiscal year.

Councilman Herb Katz opposed the “tax on a tax,” adding that “it’s a bad message all the way around.”

“Not only is the City hurting,” Katz said, “but people are hurting, and small businesses are hurting.”

Mayor Richard Bloom was skeptical that any business would feel much pain. “I don’t see how $10 is going to impact a small business,” he said.

The new weight-based landing fees for the Santa Monica Airport -- which kick in at the 10,000-pound-level for anything with wings -- will be used to pay for maintaining the Airport’s runway and taxiway pavement infrastructure. According to the staff report, maintenance bills will run as high as $8,060,000 over a 15-year-period.

The weight-based fee will be determined on the second reading of the ordinance.

The ordinance also sets a $5-per-night overnight parking fee, a $250 permit fee for Motion picture/video permits and a $100 fee for still shoot permits at the airport.