City businesses will be licensed and have annual renewal fees starting in 2018, the Walla Walla City Council decided in a 5-2 vote Wednesday.
The license — which had been strongly opposed by the Walla Walla Valley Chamber of Commerce — will be administered by state Department of Revenue officials, who will also charge a one-time $19 application fee and an annual renewal fee of $11, both of which are in addition to the city’s $50 annual fee.
Businesses that make less than $5,000 annually will not be required to obtain a license.
“We are extremely disappointed in the council’s decision,” Chamber President David Woolson said in an interview. “This is a bad policy decision.”
The new business license will replace the city’s current business registration program, under which businesses were required to file a one-time registration application that included a one-time $45 fee but no annual renewal.
Woolson added that city officials should have focused on revising the business registration program instead of going for the $50 yearly fee that will bring in $175,000 annually to city coffers.
“We did not object to a revised registration or license, if that is needed,” Woolson said. “However, to impose new fees for doing business here unnecessarily is extremely short-sighted by the council.”
Council members Tom Scribner and Steve Moss voted against licensing.
Scribner said the proposal had not been presented adequately to the local business community, and Moss noted that smaller businesses that produce little income would feel the cost more than larger businesses.
Moss said he voted against it “not because I am not in favor of imposing or requiring or requesting or gathering data, but merely for the $61. And I do think that in some respects this will be regressive.”
In talks for two years
Council members who supported the annual license noted that it had been talked about for two years, been the subject of public work sessions, was the norm in most cities, and the cost was not too much.
Staff also noted in their report that 223 other cities across the state — roughly 79 percent of Washington’s municipalities — require annual business licensing. The report also said the average price of a business license in Eastern Washington is $138, and the statewide average is $71.
