By Linda Taaffe

A desire for cleaner streets, meticulously maintained landscaping and better sidewalk upkeep could prompt the Los Altos City Council to create a downtown business improvement area or district that would generate a business tax for improved street maintenance.

Business and property owners met with the city’s new economic development coordinator Abby Veeser last week to discuss what service levels they would like to see improved and how to fund the increased maintenance.

Among the improvements merchants said they would like to see downtown were: better maintenance of box hedges around street trees; more frequent street cleaning and sidewalk pressure washing; and the maintenance of street carriage lanterns.

The city budgets about $130,000 annually for basic city maintenance services such as street resurfacing projects, street lighting and street sweeping. Downtown’s budget includes more street sweeping and landscaping maintenance than other city areas. In addition, the Los Altos Village Association, a voluntary merchant group, contributes other maintenance services.

The improved maintenance would cost an estimated $80,000 to $100,000 more a year, Veeser said. The city would recoup these costs from either a business improvement area, which would increase business license fees, or through a business improvement district, which would assess an additional tax on downtown commercial property owners.

The business district would add an additional layer of service to what the city currently provides, Veeser said.

She said the formation of such a district would depend upon merchant support.

In a city survey last fall, 77 percent of the merchants who responded said they believed that the plazas, streets and sidewalks were well maintained. Only 30 percent said they would be willing to form an assessment district to provide additional parking.

City staff is expected to present a report to council in upcoming weeks.