Police Fee Hikes Anger Businesses

Los Angeles city officials said Thursday that they have received hundreds of calls and letters from businesses protesting substantial increases in fees for permits issued by the LAPD.

Some of those critics charge that city politicians are attempting to tax controversial businesses out of Los Angeles.

“They want us gone,” said Paul Cole, a licensed gun dealer who owns the Target Range business in Van Nuys. “They don’t want gun dealers in Los Angeles. This is how they are doing it.”

Cole said he is considering ending gun sales at his business after being notified that his annual firearms vendor license is increasing 1,242% from $149 to $2,000, while each salesman permit goes from $149 to $400.

Increases are being imposed on 15 kinds of police permits, affecting 2,595 businesses and individuals. The permits include those for game arcades, auto parks, cafes with live entertainment, dance halls, firearms vendors, massage technicians, towing companies and pawnbrokers.

“It’s unbelievably outrageous,” pawnshop owner Igor Shekhtman said of the increase in the annual pawnbroker permit from $124 to $2,000.

He said his Loma Pawn Shop in downtown Los Angeles already pays a $3,000 fee for a state license.

Pawnbrokers received a letter from the Police Commission that said the higher fee, which was due Dec. 31, was meant to cover the “city cost of regulating this type of business activity.”

Police conduct extensive background checks on all pawnbrokers and routinely review lists of items pawned in stores to look for stolen goods.

At the Great Greek Restaurant in Sherman Oaks, manager Dionisi Araklisianos said the 130% increase in the permit fee for cafes with live entertainment is excessive.

In total, the fee increases are expected to generate $1.7 million annually in additional revenue for the city.

The Los Angeles Police Commission, which issues the permits, has received hundreds of complaints about the fees, said Lt. Debra Kirk, commanding officer of the Commission Investigation Division.

The city administrative office recommended the fee hikes last year. Kirk said the commission supported only three increases -- for the massage industry, carnivals, and solicitors for police and firefighter organizations.

She said that some firms soliciting for police organizations are fraudulent, while vice officers must constantly watch for illegal activity in the massage industry.

But the commission was overruled by the City Council, which unanimously approved the package on Sept. 25, 2001.

“We thought it would have a negative impact on business in the city,” Kirk said.

City Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski defended the increases, saying that many of the permit fees had not been changed for a decade.

“Although people are seeing a significant leap in the fees, it’s been a long time since they were looked at,” Miscikowski said.

As chairwoman of the council’s Public Safety Committee, Miscikowski said she was satisfied that the higher fees were necessary to recover the city’s cost of ensuring that businesses operate “on the up and up.”

“These are activities where if they weren’t properly permitted and controlled, sometimes things could go awry and lead to criminal activity,” Miscikowski said.

The Police Department only charges fees for businesses that require police responses or oversight, such as massage parlors and arcades.

Officers do extensive background checks on all permit applicants, and keep track of items pawned and guns sold. The city also incurs costs when a disciplinary hearing is held for a permit-holder.

“We would be putting the city in an awkward position if we did not recover our costs,” Councilman Nick Pacheco said.

Raisa Trakhtenberg said she was upset that her pawnshop was not notified until last month of the fee increase, more than a year after the fact.

“They should have let us know a year ago so we would have time to respond,” she said,

Some of those who received the letter, dated Nov. 13, are suspicious that it was timed to arrive just after the vote for San Fernando Valley and Hollywood secession. Secession leaders said it appeared that the city did not want to create controversy before the secession vote.

They said the same appears true of a letter sent to 151,000 people that said they may owe business taxes to the city.

That letter also has caused City Hall to be inundated with complaining calls, many from people who operate small-business ventures from their homes and resent being asked to pay taxes on meager earnings.

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Steep city fee increases

The fees for many permits issued by the Los Angeles Police Department have been increased by the City Council to cover the city’s cost of overseeing the permitted activities, but the steep hikes have drawn a storm of protest from the businesses affected.

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Annual police permit fee

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Business: Arcade, game

Number: 47

Previous: $124

New: $425

% Change: 247.7%

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Business: Auto park

Number: 1,146

Previous: $64

New: $115

% Change: 79.7

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Business: Cafe entertainment

Number: 618

Previous: $100

New: $230

% Change: 130.0

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Business: Carnival

Number: approx. 30

Previous: $76

New: $375

% Change: 393.4

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Business: Dance hall

Number: 255

Previous: $100

New: $400

% Change: 300.0

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Business: Dancing club

Number: 45

Previous: $76

New: $76

% Change: 0

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Business: Firearms vendor

Number: 423

Previous: $149

New: $2,000

% Change: 1,242.3

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Business: Firearms salesperson

Number: 139

Previous: $149

New: $400

% Change: 168.5

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Business: Massage (on premises)

Number: 124

Previous: $296

New: $800

% Change: 170.3

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Business: Pawnbroker

Number: 100

Previous: $124

New: $2,000

% Change: 1,512.9

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Business: Peace officer/firefighter organization solicitor

Number: 19

Previous: $29

New: $750

% Change: 2,486.2

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Business: Rides (mechanical)

Number: approx. 30

Previous: $30

New: $64

% Change: 48.4

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Business: Towing operation

Number: NA

Previous: $76

New: $950

% Change: 1,150.0

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Business: Tow unit operator

Number: NA

Previous: $32

New: $400

% Change: 1,150.0