By Lindy J. Gwinn, Mountain Valley News staff
It seems that the only thing that trustees in Cedaredge agree about concerning the business license ordinance and its fees is that it needs some work.
Exactly what it needs to say, and exactly what they want to charge for the original license and renewals is still being researched.
The Town of Cedaredge has had some form of business licensing since 1954, when the town charged $10 for each pinball machine, and $250 for a liquor parlor (bar). Things have changed a bit since 1954, and it appears that a license policy is not as simple as it was in earlier times.
Assistant Town Administrator Mitch Meyer was charged with the duty of contacting other municipalities across the state to find out what they are doing about business licenses and how much they are charging.
With a list of 200 towns from the Colorado Municipal League, Meyer sent inquiries to seek information about their policies. Of those contacted, 30 municipalities responded.
One thing the responses showed was that no two business licensing requirements were the same, and the range of fees for the license ranged from $10- $375 depending on the classification of a particular business.
Another thing that the inquiry showed is that most municipalities place the fees collected for their business licenses in the general fund. The Town of Cedaredge places the fees collected in a line item account specifically for promoting the town.
“Our Cedaredge Business Group has a direct say in how those funds are used. We only generate about $6000 in fees at this time, and those fees are used for things like the ‘Painting up the Town,’ funds for promoting tourism, and town beautification projects,” said Interim Mayor Pat Means.
Trustee Bruce Bertram said, “There are three major things we need to determine as we review this document. First, we need to decide how we want to define and categorize businesses. We need to decide what businesses the license would apply to, and third, decide what kinds of fees we want for a renewal fee. The renewal fee does not have to be the same as the initial fee.”
On that note, Bertram also said that newspapers should indeed be exempt from the license under the First Amendment.
Trustee Gene Welch said,” I think that a general contractor should have a business license for a job, but I am not sure that I think the subcontractors should all have to have one if they are working for a general contractor.”
“I just want to make sure that the people that are supposed to be paying sales tax are paying it,” said Bertram. “That was one of the original reasons that we adopted this in the first place.”
Bertram also said, “We need to make sure that we have public involvement in these future discussions as we try to find something that works for the Town of Cedaredge.”
This topic will be discussed at the regular meeting on January 21, and more in a work session on February 11. For more information call Town Hall at 856-3123.
