Small businesses urge council to rethink traffic‑based fees, warn of disproportionate burden

Business owners and property stakeholders told the Talent City Council on Aug. 5 that the proposed allocation of transportation and public-safety fees would disproportionately burden small local enterprises and tenants. Speakers said the trip‑generation model and flat monthly surcharges risk passing large, sudden costs to tenants and could hamper recovery in the downtown core.

Rick Harris, a Talent property owner, said the staff proposal "is a faulty mechanism to solve a different issue," asserting the city was addressing a $300,000 budget shortfall rather than a public‑safety problem. He told council the proposed allocation changes would, in his example, amount to an 85% to 858% increase for certain small owners, and he urged the city to consider a ballot or different property‑tax approach for broad budgetary needs.

Tammy Sona, a tenant in Wagner Plaza, described how parking patterns and shared lots make traffic counts a poor proxy for individual business demand: "Adding another recurring fee based on an inaccurate traffic model is neither fair nor equitable," she said, and urged a usage‑based model. Other commenters suggested tiered caps, phased implementation, clearer notices, and a robust appeals process to avoid imposing unsustainable one‑time adjustments on vulnerable businesses.

Councilors repeatedly acknowledged the difficulty of balancing fiscal stability with fairness; several supported additional outreach and a phased approach. The council later voted to proceed with a motion introducing a public‑safety surcharge ordinance with a phased amendment (see separate article on the council action).