Council undecided on license application procedure

A new way for businesses to apply for licenses in Liberty Lake may be coming down the road, but the City Council was unable to come to a decision on a new procedure Tuesday night.

Currently, businesses have to pay for a business license in Liberty Lake, plus get a master license from the state. The city charges $35 per year for most businesses operating in Liberty Lake or $20 per year for businesses that do under $10,000 in annual sales. The new process, if approved, would allow businesses to get their Liberty Lake license online when they renew their license through the state, saving time for both the business owners and the city.

“Right now we expend a tremendous amount of resources tracking businesses in Liberty Lake,” said director of community development Doug Smith.

“It would take less staff time,” said council member David Crump, who noted that the changes would also benefit businesses. “This is a one-stop shop for them.”

Council members discussed whether to leave the cost at $35 or lower it to $26, so that once the $9 state licensing fee is factored in, businesses will still pay the same amount. “We’re not really in the business of making money off this,” Crump said. “We want to make it easy to do business.”

The process to convert to the new licensing process would take about three to four months. After expressing concern about not knowing enough about how that process would work, the council voted to table the measure until their next meeting, when more information will be available.

In other business, the council discussed applying for a $500,000 grant to help fund phase two of Rocky Hill Park. The grant requires a 50-50 match from the city, which will include $345,840 in cash and the value of the donated land.