Business license tax structure heads to finance committee

The Costa Mesa Finance Advisory Committee is poised to study the city’s business license tax structure after receiving approval to do so by the City Council on Tuesday night.

Councilwoman Wendy Leece had requested in May that the committee look into examining the annual tax, which maxes out at $200 for the city’s largest business, though the committee ended up holding off on the move until it received formal council direction.

While acknowledging that the relatively low tax might not need fixing because it’s an incentive for new businesses to come to the city, Leece warned of a tax disparity between high-revenue South Coast Plaza stores and small businesses.

About $850,000 in revenue through the tax is predicted for the 2012-13 fiscal year, according to Costa Mesa’s mid-year revised budget.

Mayor Pro Tem Steve Mensinger, who acts as the mayor’s designee to the committee, has called any tax increases a “big issue.” A better solution, he contended, is fully examining all the businesses that are paying the license taxes and discovering any that aren’t properly paying it.

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Senior Center actions

The council chose three people to serve on the Costa Mesa Senior Center’s board of directors.

Incumbents Ernie Feeney and Kathleen Eric and newcomer Barbara Echan were picked from among the six applicants.

The council also approved a $26,500 audit of the West 19th Street center.

The fixed-fee audit will be conducted by Management Partners, which has an office in Costa Mesa. The work is expected to take 170 hours.

A letter to city CEO Tom Hatch from Management Partners’ regional vice president, Andrew S. Belknap, says the audit will “determine ways to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the senior center operation.”

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Fire rings

The council also adopted a resolution that formally opposed a potential ban on fire rings on the beaches of Orange and Los Angeles counties.

Mayor Jim Righeimer had requested the resolution, which recommends that the South Coast Air Quality Management District not ban wood-burning pits.

Costa Mesa’s resolution says the city recognizes the “important role our neighboring beach communities play in providing the Southern California region with passive and affordable recreational opportunities,” according to a city staff report. It also encourages efforts to find solutions that serve the interests of all the region’s cities that want the “Southern California tradition of beach fire rings to continue.”