Owners of about 20 auto repair shops descended on Hermosa Beach City Hall to complain that they were being subjected to unfair fees, and won some concessions including a one-time discount.
During a lively and sometimes testy meeting Monday with the city manager, city attorney, fire chief and finance director, the businesspeople also were told that officials will consider charging similar fees to other businesses as well, instead of singling out auto shops.
The object of the businesspeople’s ire was a city fee for fire inspections and permits for their auto shops as well as Hermosa’s two gas stations. The fees were instituted by the City Council in 1990, and have risen in 20 years from $57 to $291 annually.
At least two businesses are refusing to pay, including Precision Motor Sports, where owner Robert Hoffman has been battling City Hall for four years, as lawyers write letters demanding and refusing payment.
At the meeting, city officials told the businesspeople the inspections determine the fire safety of the businesses, and record the amounts and locations of flammable liquids at each one. They said the fees cover the costs of the inspections and resulting permits.
But the businesspeople objected to hikes in the fees, they wondered aloud if the fees did more than just cover the city’s costs, they described recent inspections as cursory, and they complained that restaurants are not subject to similar inspections and fees, despite the occurrence of restaurant fires.
Max Keep of Cypress Auto Body, wearing a “Mermaid Track Club” T-shirt, told officials that government fees keep rising even as the economy remains down-turned.
“When is it going to stop? I don’t see the city laying off people, but we’re laying off people left and right,” he said.
Officials told the businesspeople that over the past three years, the city has reduced its workforce by about 15 percent by refusing to fill vacant positions.
City officials defended the inspections as necessary, saying inspections by the county focus on the handling of hazardous wastes, and those by the city focus on fighting fires in the presence of hazardous materials.
Some of the shop owners said recent inspections were too cursory to sufficiently catalogue hazardous materials, and officials said they would be willing to send inspectors out again if necessary.
A number of shop owners complained that the city fees for 2010 were based on inspections conducted by a three-person fire crew with a fire truck, but the inspections in fact were done by one fire official who came in a car.
City officials said some inspections were done by one firefighter who was injured and could not fight fires. They said the plan originally called for three-firefighter inspections because the one crew that works each shift must stay together to respond quickly to fires and other emergencies.
But the officials acknowledged that the businesspeople had a point, and resolved to discount part of the fee costs to businesses that had been inspected by the lone firefighter without the truck.
“I think we’ve heard some very legitimate points, and we have some homework to do,” City Attorney Michael Jenkins said.
He said it is possible that more businesses would be charged similar inspection fees, a change that was repeatedly requested by some of the repair shop owners.
“It’s all or nothing,” one owner said.
Andrea Jacobsson of Jama Autohouse, who helped organize the fee protest with husband Lars, said outside the meeting that the anger over the fees is similar to anger over possible increases in fees for general city business licenses.
Those fees have not been raised in 29 years, and some officials have made halting stabs at increases in recent years.
In a side note, one dog walker came to the meeting to complain that she was subject to a city fire inspection and a $131 fee because she runs a business out of her condo, although the dogs don’t come to the condo. Officials seemed surprised, and said they would look into her situation. ER
