The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved higher registration fees and new registration requirements for massage services.
The measure increases the initial massage service registration fee by $100, to $200, and raises the renewal fee $50, to $100.
“Costs do rise over time, and this is an item that hasn’t been looked at in over a decade,” said Kraig Troxell, a spokesman for the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office, which requested the changes.
Under the measure, all employees of massage services are required to provide proof of residence within 100 miles of Loudoun County, as well as a massage license registered in Virginia.
Troxell said the changes in registration requirements are designed “to eliminate groups of traveling massage therapists from bouncing around, and unlicensed work in the area.”
Cynthia Parsons, a private massage practitioner based in Leesburg, chafed at the proposal.
She said she understood the need to generate revenue, but was not pleased with the blanket targeting of massage services.
“If they were aiming [the amendments] at illicit massage parlors, that’s one thing, but to aim it at someone like myself, who is a private practitioner, I would not be happy with that,” she said.
Parsons also said that illegitimate massage parlors find ways to skirt the rules. “They’re not going to call themselves ‘massage therapists,’ ” she said.
In contrast, Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio, R-Sterling, supported the changes. “I think we are taking steps to address these quality-of-life issues, and that’s a good thing,” he said. “I, for one, don’t want to see any more massage parlors than we already have.”
In a fall special session of the Maryland General Assembly, a proposal to tax services, including massages, was met with a firestorm of protest from local massage therapists, among other service professionals. The proposal was eventually killed.
