CANADA —The city government of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada has decided to institute a 300-percent licensing fee increase to those who operate strip clubs. There are only two in the city.Pat Harris, Kitchener’s manager of licensing, said publicly that the increased costs are being proposed to cover money associated with enforcement and staff costs to prepare for tribunal hearings on bylaw infractions.

Shutting down the two strip clubs is not the intention of city staff or council, Harris added.

But that’s exactly what the two club owners feel that the increase is designed to do. The licensing fees for Roxanne’s and The Dollhouse are going from $1,081 to $4,200.

“It’s just very arbitrary,” Roxanne’s owner Barry Grieve said to the local media. “This is a tax grab. It’s discriminating. They do it because they can.”

Harris said the increase is significant, but matches that of other municipalities of similar size. In Cambridge, the licensing fee is $4,200. Waterloo doesn’t have a strip club.

“We are way below other municipalities in licensing fees,” Harris told the committee, which offered little comfort to the club owners.

Licensing fees for erotic massage parlors are also going up from $1,216 to $3,500.

Harris said licensing staff is involved in five upcoming tribunal hearings related to licensing erotic massage parlors. This costs thousands of dollars, she said.

Dollhouse owner Bill Papazatos backed Grieves’ thoughts on the increase, saying, “The increase is quite unfair. It’s not going [to close us down] but they have set a precedent here. Then it could go to $10,000. You have opened a can of worms.”

Final approval of the increase will be made on November 13th.