... Hotel owners complain that city police aren’t enforcing the existing noise and crowd rules and contend that the bars and nightclubs actually cost City Hall far more — in the form of heightened police services — than they ever bring in via sales and business taxes...

... councilmembers Helene Schneider and Das Williams both quizzed Assistant City Attorney Scott Vincent about collecting higher revenues from bar and nightclub owners and what, if any, legal impediments might block City Hall from pursuing this path. Vincent’s answer was sufficiently discouraging to prompt Councilmember Grant House to conclude, “I don’t think you can get there from here.” That’s because under California law, any new taxes must first be approved by a vote of the people and any increased assessment must first be voted on by the bar owners themselves. Either scenario conjures the necessity of waging uphill political campaigns against business opponents capable of raising cash while lamenting, justifiably, hard economic times.

None of this was sufficient, however, to chase away Williams or Schneider, though neither have particularly clear ideas on how to proceed. Williams harbors hope that “responsible bar owners” will support the creation of a new assessment district that would exact new revenues to defray the high costs of policing businesses where alcohol is sold. Schneider remains cautiously optimistic bar owners might be persuaded to “voluntarily” contribute a percentage of their admission charges into the city’s General Fund.

There is, however, a third way to skin the proverbial cat, one that the City of Santa Barbara has not considered at all. Beginning in 2005, the City of Ventura began charging an annual business license renewal fee to any bar, nightclub, restaurant, or grocery store permitted by the state to sell alcohol. From this, Ventura generates $182,000 per year for its General Fund. This money pays for one full-time police officer assigned exclusively to moderate the excesses associated with the sale of alcohol. Because Ventura defined this exaction as a “fee,” rather than a tax or an assessment, no election was required...

-- "Do Bars & Nightclubs Pay Their Fair Share? - Politicos Ponder New ‘Entertainment’ Exaction for Lower State Street Establishments," By Nick Welsh, SB INDEPENDENT, June 11, 2009