Council reconsiders plan for vendor fees

Spokane city officials are backing down from a proposal to charge $5-a-day fee for vendors at consumer, craft and trade shows.

Council President Dennis Hession said the city is revising a proposed ordinance that seeks to regulate unlicensed vendors.

The proposal to charge $5 a day ran into opposition from show organizers as well as business advocates, who viewed the proposal as unfriendly toward small business.

Hession said the council is likely to consider an ordinance that will require show organizers to provide the city’s business license department with lists of vendors at shows. Promoters will also be required to provide vendors with information about the city’s business license fees.

An annual business license in the city is $60 and a 90-day peddler’s license is $35 – vendors would need one of the licenses to operate.

Under the revised proposal, city business-license employees will be able to compare lists of vendors with city business licenses to learn which vendors are doing business in the city without a license. The city will then contact those business owners about the city’s licensing requirements, Hession said.

The new ordinance is needed to create equity among vendors who comply with the license requirements and those who do not, Hession said. Business license fees do not generate a lot of revenue for the city, but provide a method for regulating businesses within the city, he said.