SIMI VALLEY : Council to Consider Helping Car Dealers

Simi Valley’s eight auto dealerships have asked the city to help them get through the recession, which they said has already forced two dealerships to close in the last six months.

Business is off by 30% to 50% and could get even worse unless the city steps in, dealers said.

“We’re trying to find a way to help each other,” said William Morris Jr., owner of William Morris Chevrolet. The automobile industry, he said, is “the same as the real estate industry--it’s in trouble.”

In the 1990-91 fiscal year, city records show, the auto dealerships provided $692,612 in sales tax revenue to the city, representing 10% of the total sales tax collected. In 1989-90, the dealerships generated $834,700 in revenue for the city, which accounted for 12% of Simi Valley’s sales tax receipts.

The City Council tonight will discuss a number of options to help the dealers, including providing low-interest loans, participation in a joint advertising campaign, sales tax rebates and adjusting or eliminating restrictions on the use of flags, banners and freeway-oriented signs.

Morris said allowing the dealers to put a sign along the Simi Valley Freeway would be a priority. He said other cities have allowed such signs and Simi Valley should do the same.

“If you want business to come into town, you’ve got to invite it,” he said.

But Mayor Greg Stratton said a sign along the freeway is prohibited by the city’s sign ordinance. He said council members are not likely to change the law, given the flak they received recently about a McDonald’s restaurant that plans to erect a 20-foot sign near the freeway.

“We’d like to help, but we have our limits, too,” Stratton said.