Concerns About Fee Increases Raised at City Council Meeting

Appeals not to raise city fees for non-profits dominated the public hearings at last night’s Culver City Council meeting.

A handful of people, including Goran Eriksson, Chairman of the Culver City Chamber of Commerce, voiced their concerns about increases in fees charged by the city.

“The majority of increases are two percent, but the business tax is four percent,” he said. “We need to be careful with how the cost of doing business in Culver City compares to our neighboring cities in LA County.”

Alan Levy of the La Ballona Valley Bromeliad Society spoke of the society’s concerns that they would have to pay more in the future to use Veterans Memorial Auditorium for its annual Bromeliad Show, a large fundraiser that attracts people from all around Los Angeles and beyond which benefits the entire city, he said.

“There are also peripheral benefits to the city for allowing these shows to exist,” Levy said. “Number one, the income that comes from people coming from distances to eat dinner here, to buy gas here, to shop here. Another important benefit is that it allows the local residents free entertainment on a weekend. We also collect sales tax which benefits the city.”

Donald Misumi, treasurer of La Ballona Valley Bromeliad Society, said the organization also has strong ties to Culver City because it holds its monthly meetings here and most of its members are Culver City residents. However, raising fees would threaten whether the society would be able to continue to hold its annual fundraiser in Culver City.

“We basically can’t afford to have this event for any fee greater than that because we simply will be losing money and it will no longer be a fundraiser for us,” he said. “I do not believe that it is the intent of the City Council to drive away these annual events, but in fact if the prices do increase, we would probably be forced to have to look at other venues.”

The Culver City Symphony Orchestra would also be subject to fee increases which does not sit well with its President and Executive Director Matthew Hetz.

“Orchestras do not make money but they enrich the community through our concerts,” he told the council. “I hope we can reach some kind of understanding.”

Hetz said the fact the fees are “scheduled to go up to $3,200 per concert next year, and then $4,000 per concert after that” is troubling.

Many of the city councilmembers empathized with the speakers, including City Councilmember Meghan Sahli-Wells.

“This is a hard one,” Sahli-Wells said. “At the same time, we have wonderful organizations that provide a public benefit and are not making money themselves, and I wonder how we can help them without going bust.”

Culver City Senior Management Analyst Nick Kimball said some of the fees, including for the business taxes, were recommended because they had not been increased in several years.

“This is really just sort of catching up for the last few years,” he said. “It’s not exorbitant.”

Councilman Jim Cooper made a proposal of his own.

“I think it would be great to bring back as an action item, and the staff could do research on non-profits we would consider grandfathering in,” Cooper said.

The council voted unanimously to pass the measure while also agreeing to have city staff report back on fees for longterm users of city facilities.