The City of Estevan has introduced a new business licence bylaw that includes a small fee for existing businesses, and higher rates for those who are in Estevan for the short term.
Estevan city council gave first reading to the bylaw at its meeting on June 6. Second and third readings will be needed before the bylaw is approved and can be enforced.
Mayor Roy Ludwig noted the city has been working on the bylaw for about a year.
The most expensive licence fee will be $500 for a non-resident commercial business. It will be for such businesses as vehicle dealerships, food vendors, clothing retailers and others coming into Estevan for a brief period of time.
“This really stemmed from a lot of concern that some businesses had that outside companies would come in who weren’t contributing to the tax base, and they were taking away the business from a citizen,” said Jeff Ward, who is the city manager and acting city treasurer.
Currently those companies do not pay a licence fee to the city when selling on private land.
The licence fees for a new business in Estevan will be $100, and it will be $30 for the year for an established commercial business located within city limits.
“It will be more of an administrative fee to print and get the certificates made up for (established) businesses,” said Ward.
The other licences will include: $100 for a home-based business with income under $30,000; $250 for a home-based business with income over $30,000; $125 for the year for a farmers’ market; $125 for a sub-trade of a contractor; $250 for a transient trader; $250 for a food truck; $250 for a trade show; and $250 for a contractor, direct sales contractor or a direct seller.
The original bylaw notes the fees for home-based businesses would only be for new businesses, but that will be amended to include all home-based businesses.
Ward is also the licensing officer for Estevan, so he can delegate to any city employee to review and inspect to make sure people have their licences.
“We are going to use some staff,” said Ward “We are not going hire an inspector (for business licences) at the current time, especially as this rolls out. You’re going to have to get all the businesses used to how this is running.”
The bylaw enforcement officer will not checking for the business licences.
Jackie Wall, the executive director of the Estevan Chamber of Commerce, said they support the new bylaw, and most of the comments they have received has been “quite supportive.” As of 11 a.m. on June 13, they had received about 15 correspondences for the bylaw.
The deadline for chamber members to submit their thoughts is noon on June 15. Those opinions will be presented to council before the bylaw receives second and third readings.
“There’s just a few questions, more procedural questions, that have come to our attention, or just want clarification on a few things in the bylaw,” said Wall.
There have been concerns whether school and fundraising trade shows would need to pay $250 for licence, while others are concerned how the home-based business fees will be enforced. But they haven’t received any thoughts on the $30 fee, which Wall views as “an admin fee.”
“I think that was prudent on the city’s behalf,” said Wall. “People are already paying taxes within the city of Estevan, so for them to have another large, business licence fee to pay for probably wouldn’t come across very well.”
She doesn’t expect the $30 business fee or the $100 new business fee will diminish Estevan’s competitiveness, since most cities in the province have a business bylaw and some sort of fee for business licences.
The $500 fee for non-resident commercial companies has been well received by the chamber’s members. When an out-of-town business comes to the city for a few days or a few weeks, it has a negative impact on local businesses.
“You need to have something in place so that you’re aware that those people are in your city, and they are doing work,” said Wall. “The other thing is if there are any problems or potential things that arise from somebody just moving into the city and doing a couple months of work and leaving, where does somebody go if they have a problem or if they need to contact that business again?”
She stressed local businesses provide an important service to the community through the merchandise they sell and the services they provide, and they support so many different organizations and events.
The city brought the proposed bylaw changes to the chamber several months ago, giving the chamber and its members a hint of what was coming. It gave the chamber a chance to voice their opinions before the bylaw was released.
She is impressed the bylaw proved to be a concise, nine-page document, because the original version was a lot longer and more complex.
Wall predicted the bulk of the feedback for the new business bylaw will likely come after the document receives final approval and the changes are enforced.
Ward noted the city usually budgets about $50,000 in revenues per year for business fees from the Rural Municipality of Estevan, who pay the city to access services. But they have $80,000 budgeted for this year, thanks to these new fees.
Council is looking for feedback to the bylaw. They expect to give the bylaw second and third readings on June 20, unless they get a lot of complaints, which would force them to make amendments. If it is passed this month, the fees would likely take effect on July 1.
