Businesses in Westwood Village will be required to pay increased fees starting in 2019.
The Westwood Village Improvement Association, a nonprofit organization tasked with improving the state of the Village, voted to increase assessments on businesses by 2 percent at its monthly board meeting on May 17.
Assessments are fees property owners in Westwood Village pay the association to fund services such as trash removal, infrastructure maintenance, event planning and parking management. The association increased assessments by 5 percent in 2016 and an additional 5 percent in its 2018 budget meeting in 2017.
Andrew Thomas, the executive director of the association, said the majority of the funding will go toward the association’s Clean, Safe and Beautiful Committee, which helps beautify the community by picking up trash, removing graffiti and maintaining infrastructure.
Thomas said the main reason for the increased assessments was the increase in minimum wage mandated by the City of Los Angeles, which will raise the minimum wage within the city to $15 per hour by 2020. In July, the Los Angeles minimum wage will increase to $13.25 per hour for employers with at least 26 employees and $12 for employers with less than 26 employees.
The increase will help pay for the costs of labor for Clean, Safe and Beautiful programs, Thomas said.