ANAHEIM : City May Cut Fees for Animal Shows
Some City Hall cynics might call it a bunch of bull to suggest that the city government would ever lower its fees for any reason.
But city officials might just prove the cynics wrong in at least one instance, meaning that it might soon cost a circus or rodeo less to bring a bunch of bulls into town, not to mention elephants and horses.
The City Council will consider a measure Tuesday that would lower by more than two-thirds the city fee charged to such traveling animal shows.
City administrators say the $400-a-day fee currently charged such annual convention center visitors as Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is too high. So they are recommending that the fee be lowered to $150 for a show’s first day in town and $100 for each additional day.
City revenue from the fees would drop from $5,600 annually to $1,900, officials estimate.
City Treasurer Mary E. Turner said state law forbids cities’ making a profit from such user fees and can only charge circuses and rodeos enough to cover its costs. City inspectors visit the shows daily when they are in town to check for health and safety violations.
Turner said Anaheim surveyed other cities and counties and found that they charge circuses from $100 to $212 a day.
The meeting will begin at 5 p.m. at City Hall, 200 S. Anaheim Blvd.
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