Residents Sign Business License Tax Petition

With the November municipal elections arriving this fall, Hermosa Beach resident Jim Lissner has gathered 698 signatures in support of a proposed initiative to be placed on the ballot that would raise city taxes for restaurants and bars if approved by voters.

The initiative is titled “an ordinance modifying the amount of the business tax on restaurants and bars in order to increase tax revenue to the city” (see accompanying city staff report.)

The proposed ordinance reads: “Some of Hermosa’s restaurants and bars have been making extraordinary, and increasing, demands on city services, while the city’s business license tax on the categories including the largest and most intensively developed restaurants and bars is a flat $2,268 annually. For many years the City Council has discussed asking the voters to approve a substantial increase in this tax, but thus far has not put the matter on the ballot.”

The Hermosa Beach City Council agreed  to direct city staffers to review and analyze the measure.

Mayor Peter Tucker pointed out to the council that the city’s is continuing to develop possible modifications to the tax structure on its own. The panel's proposed changes would also appear on the November ballot.

The committee was formed last year to reorganize the tax model for businesses in order to make it more simple and “fair.”

While Lissner’s initiative would increase taxes (for example, it proposes that businesses pay $6 per person in their maximum occupancy limit each year—then the fee could go up based on various factors, such as if alcoholic beverages are sold) the committee has discussed avoiding dramatic hikes.

“Hopefully we’re getting close to making a decision on our fee structure one way or another and at that point the committee will make a presentation to the council and see what the council would like to do,” Tucker said.

“We’ve gone through at least a dozen different scenarios. It’s not as easy as everyone seems to think it is to come up with something,” Tucker said. “We’re trying to make it equitable for all the businesses in the community and simplify our license fee structure.”