Costa Mesa voters will decide whether businesses in the city that make more than $500,000 a year in revenue should pay a higher business license tax.
Measure C was placed on the Nov. 3 ballot by the City Council and would update the city’s business license tax for the first time in 41 years to raise revenue for general city services.
The city’s business license fee has been capped at $200 a year since 1985, regardless of how much money a business makes. If the measure passes, businesses that make more than $500,000 in annual revenue would pay 50 cents per $1,000. So a business with $1 million in sales would pay $500 per year to operate in the city.
Those making less than $500,000 in sales would not see a change, and businesses making more than $30 million would not pay more than a maximum of $15,000.
The city attorney’s impartial analysis of the measure says about 72% of Costa Mesa businesses would see no change.
The increase would generate an estimated additional $4.6 million annually to support crime prevention, fire and police response, street repair and homelessness prevention efforts, among other services, officials said.
No argument against Measure C was submitted for the ballot.
“It is not reasonable to keep the business license costs the same when all of the city’s expenses have increased substantially over time,” the ballot argument in support of the tax hike said. “No other city in our area had the same business license costs for 41 years.”
Signing onto the ballot argument in support are Tom Arnold, former interim Costa Mesa Fire Chief; Steven Cathey, president of the Costa Mesa Firefighters Association; Art Perry, director of Costa Mesa Sanitary District; Liz Dorn Parker, a Coast Community College District trustee; and Kirk Bauermeister, a Costa Mesa resident.