The Downtown Mesa Association is planning to increase its fees by 3 percent next fiscal year because, coupled with an increase to requests for services, the association wants to keep pace with inflation.

"We are all invested in the city and the downtown," Freddy Curry, DMA vice president, told Mesa City council during a May 28 council study session. "The demand on the DMA for marketing and advertising has increased."

Mesa City Council hosted a public hearing on the proposed 3 percent increase giving commercial property owners affected a chance to air concerns and comments on the issue at its June 1 meeting.

According to DMA President Tom Verploegen, the goal of the DMA is to encourage business and economic development throughout the organization’s boundaries.

The physical boundaries of the DMA are the original one-square mile downtown square established in 1887 extending east to west from Country Club Drive to Mesa Drive and spanning north and south from University Drive to Broadway Road, Mr. Verploegen said.

"I think it has finally gotten to the point that our board says we need to keep up with inflation," he said during the study session of why there is a planned increased to assessment fees. "In this down economy there has been a lot more demand on our services."

The DMA is a "quasi-government" entity set up by the state legislature in 1986 to foster economic growth in Mesa’s downtown concentration area, Mayor Scott Smith said at the study session.

"This is not something the city council is putting on you, this is not something we just dreamed up," he prefaced the May 28 presentation. "It is an association that has physical boundaries."

According to Mr. Verploegen, the 3 percent assessment fee will affect all 250 commercial property owners who are within the association’s area.

Fees are assessed through a four-pronged formula examining base rate, zoning rate, land-use rate and size rate, which are handled on a case-by-case basis, Mr. Verploegen explained following the DMA’s presentation to city council.

The association only imposes fees on commercial property owners for services rendered, he said. Those services include right-of-way cleaning efforts, marketing and advertising campaigns and community clean up and safety programs.

The proposed budget for the DMA this coming fiscal year, which starts July 1, is $273,000 including the 3 percent assessment increase equating to $8,000 annually, according to Mr. Verploegen. The DMA employs 8 full-time employees.

"It is a necessity; we do need the assessment," Mr. Curry said of the need for the fee increase. "As a business owner, we know what it takes."

Mayor Smith says the reason why city council is involved with DMA fee structures is because the organization is a semi-public nonprofit organization-meaning all commercial property owners within the organization’s boundaries are obligated to pay fees assessed by the entity.

"This is really a self-assessment," he said of the proposed fee increase.

Mayor Smith says the services provided by the DMA are instrumental in the success of the city’s downtown area especially during dips in the economy.

"These are things that you need to continue to invest in," he said of DMA assessment fees. "I think that is incredibly important."

Mesa City Councilman Scott Somers, who represents District 6, agrees.

"I want to make sure we are doing our due diligence in this down economy," he said during the study session. "We still have to make sure we are supporting our businesses."