A proposed business license fee to pay for additional police officers and firefighters is sparking mixed reactions from commercial business owners in Medford.
"I don't think we'd have any concern," said Sid DeBoer, Lithia Motors chief executive. "I'm not saying I'm happy about it, but I don't think it's any problem."
But for some smaller business owners, it's just another hit.
"If you want to ruin the small businesses, you may as well keep raising the fees and the taxes," said Hannelore Rippel, owner of the Cotton Club clothing store on East Main Street. "We don't have certain flexibilities that big companies have."
The Medford City Council is considering a new fee structure for commercial business license fees as follows:
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"We already are generating half a million off the $81," said Alison Chan, finance director for the city. She said the last change to the business license fee was when it was bumped up from $77 to $81 in 2005.
The per-employee fee is one of four fees, all of which the council could adopt Thursday. The fees would cost a homeowner about $63 a year, while businesses would pay between $100 and $1,000 annually. In all, the four proposed fees would generate an estimated $3 million for public safety and parks.
Brad Hicks, president of the Chamber of Medford/Jackson County, said the agency has been working with the city to come up with something that doesn't hit businesses so hard.
"We want to help come up with a solution," he said. "I don't know if a $1,000 business license fee is the most fair and equitable way to get there," he said. Commercial properties only use a small percentage of police and fire responses, he said.
"The (police and fire) burden is coming out of the residential side," he said.
Joni Roskofsky, owner of Morrisey's Clothes Cottage on Main Street, said she opposes increasing the fee structure. She said she has one employee, and though the change boils down to a $19 annual increase for her, with annual increases in street fees and all the other requirements of a small business owner, it all adds up.
"I'm not receptive to that at all," she said. "We are taxed and fee'd to death."
But Jim Root, Sabroso Inc. chief executive and owner, said he supports the fee.
"I think business has a role in funding these basic services," said Root, who has 50 to 150 employees. He said he understands the difficulty of going out for bonds and elections, and thinks this is a practical way to fund basic needs "at least for a while."
Prior to settling on the utility fees, the council earlier this year considered but rejected several revenue generating ideas, including a public safety levy and a tax on restaurant meals. Chan has said current property taxes do not cover all the city's costs because increases in employee wages, health insurance and retirement have outpaced revenue.
Reach reporter Meg Landers at 776-4481 or e-mail mlanders@mailtribune.com.
FEES MAY BE ADOPTED THURSDAY
In addition to the business license fee, the Medford City Council on Thursday will consider three other new fees to fund police, fire and parks departments:
- A 2 percent increase in the franchise fee for PacificCorp, which would be passed on to customers, averaging $1.40 per month. The fee would generate $1 million annually and be dedicated to the city's police, fire and parks departments.
- A $1.30 public safety fee on each Medford municipal utility bill would raise $500,000 annually for the city's police and fire departments.
- A $2.56 increase in the monthly parks fee on Medford municipal utility bills would generate $1 million annually. The money would be used to make payments on a $13 million bond for the Medford Sports and Community Park.
The public safety fee, parks fee and business license fee will be considered during the 7 p.m. public hearing, while the electric company franchise fee increase is scheduled to be adopted during the noon meeting. The both meetings will be held in the City Hall Council Chambers.
