Starting in January, body piercers, tattoo artists and massage therapists will be required to pay more to operate their businesses. The businesses see a 38-96 percent increase in the price of city permits they need to do business. The Eau Claire City Council passed the law unanimously in November during their annual budget meeting.

The massage parlors will see a $135 increase adjusted to their license fee. The businesses now have to pay $276 as compared to $141 from last year. Body art industries will also see a significant hike in their licensing fees. For combined establishment of tattoo and piercing businesses, the owners have to prepare themselves for another 38.2 percent increase next year. The adjustment is a jump from this year’s $322 up to $445.

Body piercer at Artisan Tattoo and Body Piercing on Water Street, Shaun Benesh said the licensing fee increase will not affect them too much. Benesh said although it means more money out of his pocket, it’s worth it because body art is something he enjoys.

“We love the art, we love our profession and want it to be legal and want to show that we’re willing to do this,” Benesh said.

However, Benesh is concerned about the number of illegal artists increasing as an outcome due to businesses that refuse to pay for licenses.

“We might have more people out there doing it illegally,” said Benesh. “Giving people crappy tattoos and passing on pathogens, diseases, STDs and stuff because everything isn’t sterilized. Because they don’t know.”

Illegal body artists usually do not pay much attention to the health codes or the procedures, Benesh said. Tattoo artist at Midwest Tattoo on Water Street, Holly Stroschein said she agreed that more attention should be given to educate body art practitioners about cleanliness.

“Health department should have a blood-borne pathogen course in this city,” Stroschein said. “The nearest one that I know of is all the way in Minnesota.”

Stroschein said education for sterilization is very important and hopes it will get more attention from the Eau Claire’s Health Department.

The reason behind the licensing fee increase was due to budget woes suffered by the Board of Health. The department had only been collecting a partial fee from the services they had been providing to the licensed establishments. The department sends out inspectors for annual inspections to make sure the businesses are up to the health codes. Services include conducting spore tests, checking if the business owners kept their records and the sanitation of the stores and equipment.

Director of Environmental Health, Shane Sanderson said the department’s budgeted funds can be rearranged as long as the agency is not losing money. Sanderson’s job is to make sure the department’s finances stayed on track.

“There’s a lot of different programs that kind of move money around, so that whatever happens at the end of the year we don’t make a dollar,” Sanderson said. “But we also don’t end up a hundred thousand dollar deficit.”

Even with the licensing fee increased, there is no reason why businesses should be affected, Stroschein said.

Ka Vue, a customer getting her tattoo done in Midwest Tattoo said, “it shouldn’t be too big a problem” if the cost of getting a tattoo went up a little.

“I’ll still get my tattoos here,” Vue said. “It’s more important to know that your tattoo is getting done by a real professional.”

In order to improve the relationship and cooperation between body art industry and the Board, the Body Art Advisory Committee has been formed. The committee will be made up of practitioners and inspectors to set standards on different issues within the industry.