City Fee Rubs This Masseuse the Wrong Way

An El Segundo masseuse wants city officials to loosen up a bit over the stiff license fee it charges her and other professional rubdown artists.

Laurie Jo Taylor contends that the $500 annual fee the city charges massage businesses--ostensibly to pay for a yearly police investigation--is too high. She says it unfairly lumps trained, therapeutic masseuses like herself with those who aren’t on the up and up.

“The thing with me is I just want to be thought of as a legitimate business person,” said the 30-year-old owner of the Body Connection.

While council members have yet to decide the matter, Taylor, who leases space inside a trendy fitness club and has eight part-time employees, has won the support of the Police Department.

“We researched it and concluded that (Taylor) is probably correct,” Sgt. Gene Kaiser said in an interview. “It is kind of hard to justify 500 bucks every year.”

The $500 charge was adopted in 1973 to discourage massage parlors that were fronts for prostitution. The decision came after two such places--one across from City Hall--were shut down by police.

Police Chief Frank Meehan, who spoke at Tuesday’s council meeting, acknowledged that the $500 fee was intended as a kind of “harassment” to keep out illicit operators, even though some of the money is needed to pay for background investigations and undercover checks.

The department has recommended that massage businesses pay a one-time fee of $500, plus a $120 annual fee that would go to the county for a yearly health inspection. The business would also pay a $50 annual business license fee to the city.

Masseuses would pay a one-time police investigation fee of $150, and $60 annually for a business license. Presently, masseuses pay a $150 annual fee.

Councilman Alan West agrees that the current fees are too high. By requiring Taylor to pay $500 a year, he said, the city is painting a legitimate business “with a brush of illegitimacy.” He called Taylor’s business a “respectable, normal, appropriate business.”

But Mayor Carl Jacobson voiced concern over reducing the $500 annual fee at a time when the city faces a financial crisis. Police will still have to conduct periodic investigations to ensure any massage business is legitimate, he contended.

The council is expected to resolve the issue in early December. Taylor, who lives in Hermosa Beach, said she has no objection to paying a one-time $500 fee, but she said it is unfair to make her pay it every year just because El Segundo is in a financial squeeze.

If she loses her battle this time, Taylor said that she will keep trying to get the fee lowered and will try to counter negative images of masseuses. With the fitness craze and emphasis on reducing stress, she said, “massage therapy is becoming more of a household word.”

“It is a profession I chose, and it just happens to have its drawbacks.”