Valley studies business registration fee
Spokane Valley business owners have a mixed reaction to the news that the City Council might require them to pay the city an annual registration fee.
The council is considering charging companies that do business in Spokane Valley $13 a year. Nonprofit organizations would pay $3.
A database of local companies would help the city identify business owners during emergencies and would help the city market itself accurately, said Ken Thompson, the city’s finance and administrative services officer. Keeping a log of existing businesses also will help ensure that the city is receiving all the sales-tax revenue it should.
Some businesspeople think registration is a reasonable request and that the charge is minimal, but others, like Carrie Humphrey, say they’re already “fee’d to death.”
“I’ve been in business a year; I’m still laying a foundation,” said Humphrey, who owns Simply Kits Quilt Shoppe. “(Thirteen dollars) is not a lot, but it’s just another thing.”
Shortly after Spokane Valley incorporated in March 2003, the city asked businesses to voluntarily register at no charge. So far, more than 3,200 companies have done that, and Thompson estimated that “a few hundred” more have yet to sign up.
Thompson said it costs $34,000 to $35,000 a year for the labor, letterhead, postage and other expenses related to building and maintaining the business database. Charging businesses and nonprofits $13 and $3 is just enough for the city to break even on the registration effort, he said.
By comparison, the city of Spokane charges a $60 base licensing rate and Coeur d’Alene doesn’t charge a fee or keep a database of businesses.
Some types of businesses wouldn’t be required to register, including farmers who sell their produce and people who operate craft booths at fairs and festivals.
Other than the few exceptions, any company that operates in the city – including businesses located outside Spokane Valley – will have to pay.
“If we have the fire district or a law enforcement issue in the middle of the night we need to know who to contact,” Thompson said. “There are other databases, but we need to have a pretty good listing ourselves.”
Thompson said the city’s database benefits the business community.
“If somebody’s coming in and they might want to do X business here, they might want to know how many similar businesses are located within our city limits,” he said.
Eldonna Gossett, president and CEO of the Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce, said she understands the need for it.
“It would appear to be a reasonable request from the city,” she said, adding that the chamber hasn’t taken a stance on the issue as a collective body.
And Terry Lynch, president of the Spokane Valley Business Association, called the requirement “a practical concept that’s to be expected.”
Mike Britton, who owns Mike’s Old Fashioned Donuts, said he supports the new city doing what it needs to succeed. But the fee would be felt by people struggling to survive during a time when the cost of running a business keeps creeping up, he said.
“If I look at that one issue all by itself, $13 doesn’t seem like a whole lot,” he said, “but the psychology of that could be the straw that breaks a camel’s back for some people.”