The Apple Valley City Council on Tuesday approved changes to many city fees and charges for 2011, but members tabled the vote on fees for massage licenses after a local massage business owner voiced concerns that the fees were too high and could harm business.

Joe Jensen owns multiple franchises of Massage Envy, including one in Eagan, he said, and has a lease on a property to open a franchise in Apple Valley.

After seeing the proposed fees to license his coming business and the therapists he would employ, he said he considered trying to get out of the lease.

"This cost structure is a job killer," Jensen said. "It's a business killer."

The fees proposed were $600 to license and investigate a new massage business, and $300 to renew the license each year therafter. It would cost a therapist $200 for a first license and investigation, and $100 each year therafter to renew the license.

Jensen said he was most concerned about the fees therapists would have to pay. A comparison of 14 metro-area cities shows the proposed new-therapist fees in Apple Valley are greater than six other cities, equal to one and less than two others. Four cities didn't report licensing or investigation fees.

The initial therapist license fee in Eagan is $100, and it costs $25 to renew each year thereafter.

Jensen said there's a shortage of massage therapists, and that those looking for work likely would choose to work in another city where the licensing fees were lower.

"We're not gonna be able to staff a business here," he said.

City Clerk Pam Gackstetter said the city clerk's office worked with the Apple Valley Police Department to set the proposed fees, based on what it would cost to conduct background checks and the cost of staff time.

"We tried to look at a fee that would be reasonable," Gackstetter said. "We are not making money on those fees."

Apple Valley's ordinance requiring the licensing of massage businesses and therapists, which the council passed Dec. 9, goes more in depth than some other cities in terms of how extensive the checks are, Gackstetter said.

Apple Valley Police Chief Scott Johnson said on Dec. 9 that many other cities already required licensing of massage practices. Licensing massage therapists and businesses was meant to prevent people with criminal histories from starting massage practices in the city, he said; that includes people who could use a massage business as a front for prostitution.

Jensen said he is "all for licensing."

"I think it keeps a lot of untrained [massage therapists] out of the community," he said.

But, he said, "We'll really struggle to get a business off the ground."

Mayor Mary Hamann-Roland said she and other city officials would discuss the fees with Jensen at a later date. She said it was important to consider the safety of the community and also the city's support of the business community.

"It's a question of balance," Hamann-Roland said.

Check back for updates on this issue and to read about other items from Tuesday's City Council meeting, including city employee salary increases for 2011.