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Honest, that is what the government nannies said - "Mesa is looking at imposing higher business-license fees to pay for a computer system that city employees say would make life easier for merchants"

I am sure the businesses of Mesa will gladly put up with lower taxes if the city continues to use it's current computer system.

Of course this just sounds like a lame excuse the city of Mesa is using to raise taxes. This quote says it is highly unlikely the new computer system will help merchants - "Smith wanted to make sure the system would help merchants, not just the city."

Source

Mesa may raise business license fees

by Gary Nelson - May. 7, 2011 07:17 AM The Arizona Republic

Mesa is looking at imposing higher business-license fees to pay for a computer system that city employees say would make life easier for merchants.

The City Council came to no conclusion on the matter after a long discussion this week, telling staffers to talk with the business community before resurrecting the issue.

But at some point, something needs to be done with the home-grown, 18-year-old system that Mesa uses to track licenses and sales-tax payments, the council was told during Monday's study session.

The system is crucial to city operations because it tracks $255 million a year in license and tax revenue. Data must be entered by hand and vendors have stopped supporting the software that runs it.

"It's not imminently at risk of imploding upon itself, but we can't do anything with it," said Alex Deshuk, Mesa's technology chief. "There's no online capability. There's no way to do anything through the Internet."

A new system would cost $2.3 million for the first two years and $400,000 a year thereafter for licensing fees and maintenance.

That's on top of nearly $18 million the city is spending for a CityEdge computer system that will manage its other budgeting and bookkeeping functions.

Deshuk said he had hoped the larger computer project would incorporate programs to handle taxes and licenses, but that's not the case.

Councilman Alex Finter, who freely describes himself as a "tightwad," said he wasn't happy about the extra spending.

Having to buy another system, he said, "feels like when you go to buy a Cadillac and then when you get to paying time it's a 20 percent increase in the cost of fixing the overall financial system. So it's a little frustrating, at least for me personally."

City Manager Chris Brady bristled.

"I don't know why anybody feels like they're in the back room of a car dealership," Brady said, because "from the very beginning we made it very clear, the figure we gave you for CityEdge did not include this system."

When Mayor Scott Smith also said he had been fuzzy on that point, Brady said he'd be happy to review prior council presentations to ensure the council had been fully informed.

To pay for the new system and future upgrades, tax and licensing administrator Tim Meyer is proposing across-the-board increases in application and license fees charged to businesses that must remit sales taxes to the city. The initial cost would rise from $30 to $70; annual renewals would cost $50 instead of $20, and late fees also would rise.

Those increases would bring Mesa's fees in line with higher amounts already charged by other Valley cities, Meyer said.

Smith wanted to make sure the system would help merchants, not just the city.

The advantage, Brady said, would be that businesses now could apply for permits online instead of having to visit City Hall. And it would allow merchants to remit sales taxes electronically instead of manually.

"I don't want to tell you how many sales-tax returns I've prepared and submitted over the years," said Smith, a former homebuilder. "They're horrible. To me that would be a huge benefit to any business . . . to be able to submit electronically."