Council to vote on fee for booth vendors

Exhibitors at craft and trade shows would be required to pay a $5-a-day business license fee under a proposal before the Spokane City Council.

Council members are scheduled to vote on the new business license law during today’s meeting at 6 p.m. in Council Chambers at City Hall.

The proposed ordinance would create a lesser fee for people who engage in sales only at consumer, craft or trade shows. Currently, an annual business license is $60 and a 90-day peddler’s license is $35.

“It’s not a huge revenue issue,” said Council President Dennis Hession about the proposed $5 fee.

Only vendors who do not have a regular city business license would be required to pay the daily $5 fee. Show organizers would have to obtain a consumer show permit from the city and collect the fees from exhibitors or vendors.

“It’ll be a paperwork headache,” said Lois McCann, chair of the Fall Shadle Park Arts and Crafts Show held the first weekend in November. The show at Shadle Park High School raises about $10,000 each year for high school activities and improvements. It is one of numerous shows that would be affected by the law.

Hession said business representatives have expressed concern that the proposed law would create an unfriendly sense toward business. But the proposal would establish greater fairness between regular business license holders and vendors who do not have licenses, particularly vendors from outside Washington state, Hession said.