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Council approves set of fee adjustments but sends massage-therapist increase back to committee
Summary
The council approved a package of license and permit fee adjustments but agreed to hold the proposed increase for massage therapists for further committee review after members expressed concern that the $700 assessment was large relative to small-business incomes.
The City Council approved a package of fee adjustments affecting business licenses and permits but excluded a proposed increase to massage-therapist licensing and sent that portion back to the Public Safety Committee for further review.
Councilmember Goldberg objected to the proposed jump in the massage-therapist fee to $700 (from a prior level reported during discussion as $261) and urged the council to reject that single fee increase. Goldberg said she knew "small entrepreneurs who may not make more than $700 a year as massage therapists," and described the proposed change as "an enormous rate change." Council agreed to approve item 16 with the exception of the massage-therapist provision; council also asked for follow-up reporting on collections rates for burglar-alarm related fees and other questions raised by council members.
Ray Holloman, commanding officer, fiscal operations division, LAPD, told council staff would provide additional information about collections rates and how fees align with costs. Ramon Soto from the Office of Administrative and Research Services (OARS) said the methodology used to set the fees followed city mandates and workload-based cost analysis, and staff would follow up with requested collection-rate data.
The council opened and closed the roll and recorded the vote as approved forthwith for the package with the massage-therapist fee removed from the final action.
