HUMBOLDT — Businesses with storefronts will pay a $100 business license fee starting in 2020.
At its Aug. 26 meeting, council voted in favour of a bylaw that implemented the fee.
One of the major reasons for the new fee is to give the city the resources to develop a city-wide business directory that will be able to tell residents – and other businesses – what businesses exist in Humboldt. No such list exists at the moment.
The new fee is expected to generate $20,000 in extra revenue per year.
During council’s discussion of the new fee, Rob Muench, Humboldt’s mayor, said the business directory would require a lot of work in its first year to get established, then require some maintenance after that.
“So what I’d like to see,” he said, “is to funnel some of that money towards promotion of businesses, whether it’s marketing, whether it’s bringing events into the community where businesses will benefit.”
The mayor said that would be something he’d like to talk about during upcoming budget deliberations. He added the final decision would be up to council.
Coun. Lorne Pratchler agreed with Muench’s sentiment.
“I think we would be doing business an injustice if they didn’t feel they were getting their value out of the $100 and in all of the licensing fees they are involved in.”
