33 small business owners are being sued because they say the permits, which went into effect last year, make them pay for police to watch over the downtown nightlife area. The Celine Orlando is one of them. The owner, Eric Fuller, is proud of the events they put on.
Fuller said, “We book artists from all over the world every weekend and sell tickets to our events.”
But he says the past year has been hard in some ways, some of which he says are because of things the city has done, like the After-Midnight Alcohol Sales Permit.
Fuller said, “You have a city that has charged ridiculously high fees to a small group of people.” “That is not good.”
With the After-Midnight Alcohol Sales Permit, only certain venues are required to pay extra police officers to patrol the downtown entertainment district based on how many people are inside.
The lawsuit says that Celine Orlando already pays $108,000 a year for their own protection inside the venue, which makes Fuller angry.
“These fees have had very bad financial effects on the people who are basically affected by them,” Fuller said.
According to the lawsuit, Celine’s entire profit margin is eaten up by its $12,000 monthly police security fee. However, they say that an OPD officer has never been stationed at their venue and that the police have never been called there in the past year.
That adds up to more than $144,000 a year, which is why they had to lay off workers to stay open. They say that the officers they pay for work near other companies that do not pay this fee, which is something they do not think they should have to pay for.
Fuller said, “Thank God as Americans we can disagree with the government. We thought what they were doing was wrong and against the Constitution, so we filed a lawsuit.”
They are not the only ones having problems; other companies in this case also want some of their money back.
A lawyer for the Center for Constitutional Litigation said in a statement, “The case was filed to get a refund of the fees paid and an injunction against the permit ordinance’s further operation.”
Fuller wants to see a change in how they interact with the city.
“I think it is important for them to talk to the businesses that they are affecting when they put in place restrictions, rules, or regulations,” Fuller said. “Right now that is not happening.”
The City of Orlando says that from October 2023 to September 2024, there were 197 violations relating to After-Midnight Sales.
A city representative said that they can not say anything about this case because it is still being heard in court.