NORTH WILDWOOD — Local business owners that attended a recent City Council meeting showed little support for the creation of a special improvement district (SID) in the entertainment area around Olde New Jersey Avenue in Anglesea.
Joe Doris, who owns The Curiosity Shoppe on Olde New Jersey Avenue, told City Council during public comment Feb. 17 that “ninety percent of us are against it.”
Council had voted Aug. 5, 2008 to create a committee to investigate the possibility of creating the special improvement district in the city’s entertainment area.
Ideally, the district would give the owners of the businesses there a unified voice, whether it was advertising or working with the city.
The Wildwoods Special Improvement District (SID) on the boardwalk and the Business Improvement District (BID) in downtown Wildwood operate similar districts. Businesses in those areas pay a self-imposed assessment and collect funds in order to pay for projects such as facade improvements, cleaning, signage and other efforts designed to enhance the business area.
Preliminary numbers have the business owners contributing a half-cent per $100 of assessed valuation.
In the current SID the cost is 2.6 cents in North Wildwood and 5.5 cents per $100 of assessed value in Wildwood. The Wildwood BID owners pay 10.2 cents per .$100 of assessed value.
But Doris said that it wouldn’t be fair, especially considering the economy and real estate market, to impose another tax or fee on local business owners. Since the amount each business owner would pay would be based on property assessments, which Doris said are currently “over assessed.”
Kathy Collier, owner of Personal Touch Hair Salon on Spruce Avenue, said that she has been in business in 1987. She didn’t think her small operation, with no other employees besides herself, could afford another tax.
The findings of the steering committee, that was charged with investigating the concept in August 2008, are inconclusive, according to City Council President Patrick Rosenello. He said that the city wasn’t going to force an improvement district on the property owners.
Contact Suit at: (609) 886-8600 ext. 25 or lsuit@cmcherald.com
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