Wallace City Council discusses registration fees

WALLACE –– The Wallace City Council examined a proposed fee structure for their new Business Registration Ordinance during their monthly meeting on Wednesday night.  

Last month, the council adopted the new ordinance, which allows the city to know what businesses are operating within the city limits and how they are operating.    

The city intentionally didn’t include the fee structure in the language of the ordinance, instead, electing to establish the fees associated with the new law through a resolution. Which, reportedly, makes it easier for the council to amend or change how they handle the fees, compared to the challenges that come with attempting to amend an ordinance.  

The proposed fee structure includes an initial registration fee of $50 and then a $30 charge for annual renewal. Businesses who have surveillance systems in place would get a 50% discount on these charges.  

Within the proposed resolution there were some caveats. These include not requiring subcontractors to have a business license if the general contractor has an active business registration; Separate businesses being operated by the same business owner would need separate registrations for each different business. However, if a business is being operated in multiple locations, it would only require a single registration.  

Nonprofit organizations, festivals, community events, and flea markets are exempt from the new ordinance.  

The Council had mixed reactions to the proposed fees, with some arguing that they could be less, while others explaining how the proposed costs were significantly less than what they saw in other areas with similar registrations.  

Councilwoman Cindy Lien thought the fees could be reduced significantly, while Councilwoman Michele Bisconer, through her own research, said that the proposed fee of $50 was far less than the average of $140 that she saw in many other places.  

“I’m not saying it should be free, but we should make it as low as we can,” Lien said. “We’re asking business owners, again, to pony up more money.” 

Bisconer was concerned with the fees that would be incurred by business owners who have multiple businesses and would like to see the proposed resolution changed to offer some sort of discount or tiered pricing for anyone operating multiple businesses.  

“I don’t think these fees we are asking are unreasonable,” Bisconer said. “But I would suggest for multiple businesses owned by the same people, that we offer a discount or something.”  

Concerns over what constituted a surveillance system were discussed, with city attorney Ben Allen explaining that within the language of the proposed resolution, this could be defined however the council wanted. Meaning that businesses could have a single camera at their business or multiple.  

“That provision came as a result, largely, by law enforcement,” Allen explained. “They want to see that the city of Wallace has taken steps proactively to reduce crime and when crime is committed, that it is prosecutable.”  

Councilman Rick Shaffer heard his fellow councilmembers concerns but cautioned against changing anything until they had more input from the public.  

“Since we’re not determining the fees tonight, I think we should leave them as-is and let the public forum happen next week,” Shaffer said. “Changing it now shouldn’t take too much work, but if we left it as-is and let the residents and business owner have it front of them and then we take it from there, change it from there. Making more changes tonight, I don’t think, is going to serve us.”  

A special meeting next is scheduled for October 15, at 5 p.m. where public comment will be heard on the proposed Business Registration Fee Resolution.