Thousands of businesses in San Diego belong to special districts that provide improvements beyond city infrastructure and services.
They tax themselves through assessments that help cover those costs.
But all too many are kicking in nothing at all.
"I don't know if I can get in the minds of other business people, but there are a lot of costs associated with running a business,” says Steven Galasso, proprietor of Caffe Italia in Little Italy. “ And that's probably one that they feel they can get away with for a certain period of time before the city catches up with them."
Galasso pays $300 a year to the Little Italy Business Improvement District Association, one of the city oldest improvement districts, which has become a dining, shopping and nightlife “destination” for tourists and locals alike.
He and his neighboring establishments are said to be among the city’s most diligent in contributing their fair share for the extra benefits they enjoy
But up to six out of ten businesses in private-sector and county databases aren't on the city's paid assessment list in 11 districts that city auditors focused on.
That's a lot to fall between the cracks -- or, knowingly lay low until they're discovered to be delinquents.
So how does the city go about rolling up the freeloaders?
By cross-checking beyond business licenses.
Local
“We identified a data source from the county and then a private-sector database, and we provided that information to the treasurer's office,” says deputy city auditor Matt Helm. “Our recommendation was that in addition to what they do, they incorporate these other parts as an added development to their efforts."
By now, treasurer's deputies have been catching up with about 400 businesses that -- for whatever reason -- weren't in compliance with assessment payments.
That's going back as far as three years.
Bills have been sent out, and money owed is coming in.
Even so, is there any way to be certain that everybody who should be paying is doing so?
“I don’t think you’ll ever get to 100 percent compliance,” Helm told NBC 7 in an interview Thursday. “But what we’re saying is just round out the efforts to the maximum extent that we can.”
For Caffe Italia’s Galasso, the key to business owners maintaining a low delinquency rate is feeling a sense of community, and confidence in their districts’ ability to deliver.
“The rate in Little Italy is very low, and basically I think that's because people know what kind of services they get,” he says. “People are seeing what they're paying for."
