KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -
The city council is once again looking into ways to address so called billboard blight, but some small business owners are worried any new fees or taxes could hurt their bottom line.
Anyone can see the hundreds of billboards across the city, spanning busy highways and quiet streets, but some on the city council say it is getting out of hand.
The city tried to address the problem four years ago, but First District councilman Scott Wagner said those efforts failed.
"The original ordinance required a lot of record keeping and enforcement that were not followed through with," Wagner said.
Wagner said the city simply doesn't know how many billboards are out there and which ones are blank or dilapidated. So he is spearheading a new logging and enforcement system that could include an added fee or tax to advertisers.
But that news has small business owners like Katy Sheean-Morris, who pays about $2,000 a year for a billboard that is vital to her business, concerned.
"More people have said, 'Oh, I wouldn't have seen you if that wasn't up there.' So for us, that was very important," the co-owner of Sheehan's Irish Imports said.
Sheean-Morris is worried higher prices for billboard companies will just be passed right on to her and the customer during a time when her budget is already tight.
"If we were taxed more, you just think twice about how to provide a good service to the customer, cut back on items they are used to having and cut back on employees."
And she says her company has already been short-staffed for years.
The ordinance is still in the very early stages, and it may not even include a new tax. The council could instead opt to pay for new enforcement measures through the general fund.
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