Merchants Threaten to Quit Association : Monrovia: Business owners grumble at plans to raise annual dues by $300 to pay for a manager. Some say they will refuse to pay.

Thirty-seven business owners have threatened to resign from the Downtown Merchants Assn. in protest of a proposal to raise dues in order to hire a professional manager.

Some say they will move from the Myrtle Avenue district altogether and refuse to pay the increased assessments. Association officials estimate that salary and overhead for a downtown manager would cost up to $50,000 annually, $300 extra per member. But the officials say a professional manager would help improve promotions and lure customers to the area.

Monrovia’s downtown business improvement district, bounded by Foothill Boulevard and Primrose, Olive and Ivy avenues, was formed in 1968. The city collects an annual $25 business license surtax plus additional fees determined by gross sales and the size of the business. Merchants are assessed when they apply for business licenses, and then the city gives the funds to the Downtown Merchants Assn., which uses the money for improvements and promotions.

The association has mailed ballots to its 197 members, asking them to vote on whether to hire a professional manager. After the ballots are counted today, the board will make a recommendation to the City Council, which has the final say because it must approve all assessment increases. Last week, 37 merchants in the 100 and 200 blocks of South Myrtle Avenue, including the Vons Pavilions center, signed a petition, which has been presented to the council, saying they would quit the association. But they would continue to be assessed as business owners within the downtown improvement district until the City Council votes on their request to resign, city officials say.

Don Hopper, assistant executive director of the city’s redevelopment agency, said the city is eager to help boost the vitality of the downtown area and supports the idea of a paid downtown manager.

His agency has offered to foot half the annual bill for the first five years. But a condition is strong merchant support for the idea.

“Attempts (by the downtown association) to get the merchants informed were almost going unnoticed,” Hopper said. “It would be a shame for them to pass this (offer) up.”

Membership discontent is not uncommon in San Gabriel Valley business improvement districts, which were formed by cities under a 1965 state law to improve business areas.

Pasadena is taking about 60 business owners in the South Lake Business Improvement District to court this month, some for refusing to pay assessments since the district was created in February, 1988. One of the recalcitrant businessmen, attorney Lorne Brown, has challenged the legality of such assessments. Although he acknowledges that street-level merchants profit from the association’s activities, he said he benefits less in his third-story offices. The South Lake Business Assn. has scheduled forums to try to iron out the rate dispute.

In Alhambra, a handful of attorneys have written letters to the city grumbling about the assessments but have always paid in the end, said Richard Nichols, former executive director of the city’s Chamber of Commerce.

And every year in West Covina, about 10 residents who operate businesses from their homes scribble notes such as “paid under protest,” and “don’t agree but here it is,” when they send in their checks, City Treasurer Charlene Jung said. Their citywide business assessment area was created in 1972.

If the plan is approved in Monrovia, each member’s assessment would gradually increase over five years to total an extra $300 annually per business, said Russ Stewart, president of the association.

Charles Graham, owner of Lee’s Paints on the east side of Myrtle and north of Palm Avenue, said he signed the petition against the plan because he has lost patience with the association. “This was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” he said.

Jodi Browne owner of Jack and Jill’s, a Myrtle Avenue children’s store, said she may move. She now pays about $300 in business fees annually and refuses to pay more. “If they do it, I won’t be here,” said Browne, who is looking into alternate sites in San Dimas and Chino.

Stewart, however, maintains that the association-organized activities--such as sidewalk sales, an annual parade and Christmas decorations--help area businesses. “Anything the association does downtown benefits them. There’s always some spinoff to merchants.”