San Diego City Council to consider doubling fees Monday

The City of San Diego City Council will consider a recommendation by the City Council Land Use and Housing Committee and the San Diego Housing Commission to double the so-called “linkage fees” charged to commercial-industrial construction and tenant improvements in the City of San Diego at 2 p.m. July 11 at 202 C St. in San Diego. The agenda is focused on this issue, so restaurateurs in attendance won’t wait long to voice their opposition to the tax-increase proposal.

The council also proposes setting the fee on auto-increase going forward, no longer requiring a vote of elected officials to increase the tax. The action is being taken despite a historic recession and without regard for the concerns voiced by the business community that this would further hurt jobs creation and economic recovery in San Diego.

Restaurant operator action is needed to voice opposition to the city council members. Plan to attend the hearing Monday, and also send a letter to the council, asking them to oppose this ill-conceived increase in the jobs tax. Also, ask the council to look at other means to provide affordable housing consistent with the original intent of creating the "affordable housing trust fund" back in 1990.

Key messages:

  • This is the worst economy since the Great Depression and all economists agree it will not recover in two years.
  • This is the only tax directly targeted at job creation and should not be increased.
  • The council should focus its efforts on jobs creation to help solve the housing problem, not increasing this tax.
  • This does not only target big business, it also targets small businesses, like restaurants and retailers who can ill afford another cost added to their efforts to stay afloat in this challenging economy.
  • The voters spoke last November and have little patience for tax increase proposals that do little to solve the problem and only hurt the economy and kill jobs.
  • The amount of money collected from this tax increase is small and will not solve the problem.
  • If this is the focus of the council, then the Housing Commission should work with all parties to come up with a solution everyone can support and bring it back to you as soon as possible for consideration.
  • In the meantime, fix the municipal code by eliminating the annual review requirement.
  • There should not ever be any auto-increase associated with this or any other fee. The council was elected to make these decisions and should do so if they choose to raise the linkage fee.

For more information, contact Chris Duggan at 619.571.6435 or cduggan@calrest.org.