Fortune-telling regulations may be changed by Apache Junction council
Metro Connection
By city code definition, a fortune teller is “A person who purports to have the ability to predict a person’s future by palmistry, using a crystal ball or cards, or similar methods.”
Tossing a $1,200-a-year fee may be in the cards for fortune-telling businesses in Apache Junction.
The Apache Junction City Council at a meeting May 6 is to direct city staff to reduce or remove the fee, based on discussion at a recent work session. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the council chambers, 300 E. Superstition Blvd.
Two fortune-telling business licenses have been approved in the past six years. By city code definition, a fortune teller is a person who purports to have the ability to predict a person’s future by palmistry using a crystal ball or cards, or similar methods, Senior Planner Nick Leftwich told the council during an April 14 work session.
A standard business license costs $50 a year. The business license for fortune telling costs $50 plus an annual permit fee of $1,200, he said.
“The code does say it requires the approval of the director of public safety, so when a fortune teller comes in for a business license the code says it would require public safety to review it and approve it,” Leftwich said.
Other cities and towns in Arizona have no additional permit fee or a fee of $100 to $300. One Valley city bans all fortune telling, he said.
The city of Apache Junction has four options going forward, Leftwich said:
• No change to existing code.
• A proposed amendment to city code to remove regulations pertaining to fortune telling.
• A proposed amendment to city code to lower the fortune telling fee comparable to other neighboring cities.
• Any other direction the council would like to pursue.
Council discussion
Councilmember Darryl Cross asked why the fee is so high for someone who wants to conduct a business in Apache Junction.
“If a person wants to blow their money on fortune telling and go in and hope that they get a good palm reading or whatever, that’s their money,” he said. “I kind of think that option 3, we reduce our fees to something that is a more reasonable and allow business to carry on.”
Councilmember Tess Nesser recalled how she was an entertainer for 25 years at the Arizona Renaissance Festival and is friends with a palm reader there.
“She’s just a regular, normal person — hard-working and business owner,” she said. “I’m not sure, while I’m reading this, why we’re charging an extra fee for that business that’s no different than any other business. So I’m not convinced that we should be charging them any more than you do McDonald’s to set up a business.”
It doesn’t matter what their business is as long as they are operating it legally, Councilmember Bambi Johnson said.
“It is for their clients and customers to decide whether they are successful. This to me is a penalty that somebody chose to inflict on somebody based on whatever belief they had.”
The fee of $1,200 sounds like a lot of money for a business license, Councilmember Bryan Soller said.
“The one thing that I do like is ... it might be with the approval of public safety with a background check and specific regulations,” he said. “But other than that, why would we charge that much money?”
Vice Mayor Robert Schroeder asked if fortune telling was the same as a psychic.
“They’re not going in there and asking the widow that I’m going to let you talk to your husband for $300 are they? Or are they going to lay down the cards?” he said. “(I)f you’re a medium and you can channel the dead and let me talk to my grandfather, you’re not in Apache Junction at a strip mall, right?”
In Apache Junction, a fortune-telling business is for people telling the future. The city has no regulations for businesses using spiritual art, Leftwich said.
Mayor Chip Wilson said he had his palm read when he was in his early 20s.
“Actually I was supposed to have passed away when I was 34 years old, so you know that palm reader was very poor,” he said.
Wilson asked what was driving the requirement for a $1,200 annual fee.
“Is it some people can be taken advantage of?” Soller asked.
The decision to charge $1,200 a year was done by the council in the 1980s, City Attorney Joel Stern
“I think there is a trust element there and I think you’re right, it goes to ‘Well, are these people fraudulent?’ I think that’s what that council may have thought at the time. That’s why it’s so high — that’s my guess — and they did create a background process. Back then a background check was a lot more expensive than they are now,” he said.
Richard H. Dyer can be reached at rdyer@iniusa.org, or on X @rhdyer. To voice your opinion on this story, connect with us at AzOpinions@iniusa.org.
Meet Richard Richard Dyer has worked at Independent Newsmedia Inc. USA since 1987, starting his career in Apache Junction as a copy editor and being promoted over the years to work as the editor of the Mesa Independent, news services editor for the East Valley office in Apache Junction, managing editor for the East Valley office, news services editor for the East Valley office and eventually also for the newspapers at INI’s then-Chandler office, managing editor again and as a news editor covering Apache Junction/Gold Canyon and Queen Creek. He helped start the Florence Independent while the news editor covering Apache Junction and Mesa news. In January 2023, he became associate managing editor for the East Valley newspapers and in August 2023 became managing editor for the East Valley newspapers of Chandler/Tempe, Gilbert, Queen Creek, Florence, Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon, while also reporting on Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon.
Community: Since 2009, he has worked as a volunteer to design The Blue Guitar Magazine, Blue Guitar Jr. magazine and Unstrung magazine, which are projects of The Arizona Consortium for the Arts; and since 2014, has been overseeing the art submissions.
Education: University of Arizona with a master of arts in journalism and a bachelor of science in agricultural communication. Also continuing education at Mesa Community College in welding in a metal art sculpture class.
Random fact: Saw his first tornado on May 31, 2010, which was classified as an EF-2, as part of a stormchasing tour group.
Hobbies: He is an artist of welded-steel sculptures, selling his artwork at juried and non-juried art shows.
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