Title
Ordinance No. 14-90 reordaining Section 507 (License Fees Enumerated) of Part 5 (License Fees) of Article 1 (General Business License Requirements) of Chapter 2 (Business Licensing, Liquor Regulation and Taxation) of the Code of the City of Colorado Springs 2001, as amended, pertaining to business license fees
Body
From:
Sarah Johnson, City Clerk
Summary:
As part of an ongoing effort to make the City of Colorado Springs a more business friendly community, and as one of the City Clerk's 2014 Breakthrough Strategies, the City Clerk conducted a thorough review of general business license ("general business license") types, requirements, and fees to ensure they are relevant and necessary to regulate activities related to health, safety or other protective purposes. (Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) Recommended Practice: Setting of Government Charges and Fees). General business licenses do not include liquor licenses or medical marijuana licenses. The review also examined fee levels and structures to ensure they are cost-based, rational, and standardized to the extent practical. As a result, the fee proposal reflects the actual cost of issuing licenses - eliminating unnecessarily high fees for businesses to operate in our great city. Also, in the near future, the City plans to implement an online application/renewal business licensing system which will result in a reevaluation of license fees.
A summary of the proposed changes to the Business License Fee Ordinance, effective as of January 1, 2015, is as follows:
1. Reordain section 2.1.507 to enumerate fees for all licenses subject to the General Licensing Code except for medical marijuana businesses;
2. Reduce all application fees from $15 to $0;
3. Reduce all background check fees from $20 to $7 and clarify when the fee shall be collected;
4. Reduce most general business license and renewal fees to $90; and
5. Reduce the tree service exam packet fee to $0.
...
Click here for full text