DANA POINT : City Delays Business Registration Fee

The City Council went along with the pleas of several representatives of the Dana Point business community this week and delayed imposing a controversial annual city business registration fee.

Instead of a fee, the council decided to start a citywide business registration program in January, 1992, and bring the fee proposal back a year later once the costs of the program have been documented.

“By 1993, we will come back with a fee that will represent a cost-recovery for the administration of the program,” said John W. Donlevy Jr., the assistant to the city manager who spearheaded the business registration proposal.

The $15 annual fee, which would have been charged starting in January, was to have been paid by all businesses with a fixed location in the city, whether or not they made a profit, according to a city report. The fees were proposed to offset city costs in putting together an inventory of local businesses.

The council vote was 3-2, with council members Eileen Krause and Karen Lloreda voting in support of a fee program.

The vote was a victory for representatives of the local business community who overwhelmingly opposed the new fee and called it a license rather than a means of registration.

“We can appreciate the need for registration of companies or businesses and of such a database for the city, but we are opposed to any fees,” said Jody Tyson, the president of the Dana Point Chamber of Commerce and a representative of the Dana Point Harbor Assn.

“Obviously, nobody wants to spend any money, but there is a further concern that, although we were told that the process of incorporation would give us more control of our local government, now every time we turn around there is a new proposal to pay this fee or this tax.”

Tyson said this fee comes on top of a recent decision by the city to add new fees and conditional-use permits for city business signs.

Mayor Mike Eggers supported the business leaders.

“It’s really a license, that’s what it is and let’s not kid ourselves,” Eggers said. “I understand the need for information, but I think there are other ways to do it. . . . I have no problem with knowing what businesses are in town, no problem with a program that’s fair.”

Donlevy had argued that the fee is only a way of paying for the registration program, which is estimated to be $21,000 annually.

“This is definitely not a licensing program,” Donlevy said. “It’s a program to develop and compile an ongoing inventory of all businesses in town.”

Fred Jenner, a spokesman for the Capistrano Beach Chamber of Commerce, said his group opposed the fee. The $15 is more of a nuisance fee to businessmen and the amount could be raised at any time, he said.

Jenner also expressed concern about a proposed penalty of up to $500 for any business that does not comply with the program. “That $500 really irritated people,” Jenner said.

Of the 31 cities in Orange County, 26 have a registration or license program, according to a survey done by the city staff. The minimum fee charged in the county is $25.

Most cities base their fees on the number of employees of a business or their gross revenues, although some also charge a flat fee, according to the survey.