Sacramento County supervisors increase county fees for massage parlors. Here's why.
SACRAMENTO – Sacramento County says the number of local massage parlors is rapidly growing and so is the crime associated with these businesses.
Some Sacramento massage parlors will soon be feeling the pain of higher county fees, which could help boost enforcement but face opposition from many small business owners.
"The proposed fee increases are drastic and costly," said Johnnise Foster-Downs with the Sacramento Asian Pacific Chamber of Commerce.
In a 3-2 vote, the board of supervisors has approved raising the license fee that massage business owners and employees pay each year.
"These are businesses that are still trying to recover from the pandemic and still trying to operate in this challenging economy that we have," Foster-Downs said.
The fee increases are steepest for new massage businesses whose cost will rise from $212 to $778, a 268% increase. The annual fee for existing businesses will now be $412, a 118% increase.
"I just think it's not right that somebody that's an honest business person trying to do an honest business has to pay 268% more," Sacramento County District 5 Supervisor Pat Hume said.
Sacramento County says fees have not been raised since 2019 and an increase is needed to continue providing oversight of the businesses.
"I think it is the responsible thing to do to charge a fee that captures the cost certainly of the inspections and enforcement," Sacramento County District 3 Supervisor Rich Desmond said.
"We haven't been recovering our costs the last five years," Sacramento County District 1 Supervisor Phil Serna said.
The sheriff's department says some massage establishments are fronts for prostitution and they've done 44 undercover operations in the last six months.
"Sixty-five percent of them have performed an illicit act on a detective or a deputy as they've gone in. One is too much, 65 is absolutely astronomical," Sacramento County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Nate Grgich said.
But opponents say raising the fees for everyone hurts businesses that follow the law.
"Some of the perfectly legitimate good operators are going to be paying more with the anticipation that there will be bad operators," Hume said.
General business licenses are also going up and will now cost $230, which is a 29% increase. The new fees go into effect on October 1.
