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Pasadena Raises Fees, Wonders If It Will Matter
By Centinel | May 21, 2008
I’m not about to start protesting the recent fee increases voted in by the Pasadena City Council, but I couldn’t help but be surprised by a couple quotes in the PSN story on the subject:
Councilman Sid Tyler supported the increases, but he also asked city staff to prepare a comparison between the city’s fees and what neighboring cities charge for the same services and permits.
“There have been questions raised from the public about the appropriateness of some of our fees and business license charges,” said Tyler. “If other cities are not inflating their charges by the same factor, then over time we have to be, at least in some instances, quite high.”
I would have assumed that would be an essential part of the process. What wouldn’t that have been a staff responsibility before the issue went to a vote? I mean, knowing what your competitors charge (since city’s do compete for businesses) seems like a pretty critical piece of information. I’m not saying Pasadena can’t go ahead and raise their fees, but good heavens! Not researching how much other cities are charging? I struggle to believe they actually failed to do that. Again:
Neighboring Glendale charges considerably less than Pasadena for many services, according to figures provided by Glendale City Clerk Ardashes Kassakhian.
Glendale’s filming charge of $150, for example, is considerably less than the $825 Pasadena charges per day of filming on public property, a figure slated to increase to $850 on July 1.
“There was a time when Pasadena was really sought out as a location for filming,” said Councilman Chris Holden, noting that many acquaintances he has in the movie industry have complained to him about Pasadena’s prices compared to other cities.
“It would be helpful for the council to get an understanding of whether (film applications) have dropped off and whether that is related not only to fees but to other impediments causing the film industry to move away from California,” he added.
While there was anecdotal evidence that the film industry has been increasingly shying away from the Golden State, Melekian does not believe there had been a drop in filming requests in Pasadena.
“We’ll look into it,” he said.
No offense, Melekian, but you can’t start denigrating anecdotal evidence until you’ve actually researched the question. Fees and taxes don’t occur in a vacuum; they have real world impacts that can be positive or negative for cities. Meanwhile, Fred Ortega managed to dig up several useful comparative numbers including this gem:
And Glendale does not even charge for a business license - compared to Pasadena’s more than $54,000 maximum business license tax.
Call me crazy, but if I was starting a business that might get hit with a $50,000 license fee or a $0 license fee, that would certainly be taken into consideration.
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Topics: Main Page, City Council, Pasadena |
May 21st, 2008 at 7:33 am
When I was a wrestling promoter, I chose to run events in cities that didn’t charge a wrestling tax..like Altadena…or City of Industry…or Buena Park.
Those taxes can be hard on an independent wrestling promoter. I mean, we’re not the WWE. I was spending $2000 on shows and maybe…MAYBE breaking even..and that included getting insurance for the venue (which most venues require).
Also, even though the taxes would be higher, I don’t like the fact that boxing is clumped in with wrestling. One is a sport, one is entertainment. I bet this is an old tax from the 50’s when “rasslin’ was REAL!”
May 21st, 2008 at 7:35 am
Also, the CSAC doesn’t govern wrestling at all - like Athletic Commissions do in some other states (Pennsylvania for one).
I’m pretty sure, though, one could get away with running a completely legit one-off pro-wrestling show and not have to pay a dime in taxes.
And when was the last time there was a boxing event in Pasadena?
May 21st, 2008 at 9:59 pm
I wonder if this will affect the DooDah Parade?