City to digitize business licensing; council weighs business‑friendly fees and credit‑card costs

City staff told the budget group that business licensing will move to an online platform to remove paper processes and reduce recurring postage and printing costs, and council members discussed whether fees and enforcement rules should be adjusted to attract businesses.

Bryce, a city staff member overseeing administrative services and software, said the city is evaluating a business‑licensing product to digitize applications, renewals and reminders. "We are trying to move that to all digital. You can sign online through an app or through web based. You get just a digital copy that you can print yourself," Bryce said. Staff said the vendor chosen was the least expensive of four options and will reduce mailing and physical‑printing costs.

Council members pushed the conversation beyond digitization to fee structure and enforcement. Some council members urged lowering or eliminating initial business fees to encourage new businesses, paired with a “pay‑for‑use” approach that would charge businesses that generate more city service demand—for example, higher police or code responses. Staff said business licenses are partly used to confirm compliance with state rules and zoning and that home‑occupation licenses are currently free.

Staff and council also discussed payment processing costs. Finance staff said online credit‑card convenience fees are offsetting revenue and that increasing ACH (bank‑draw) uptake could reduce the overall cost to the city. "If we quit taking credit cards, we would have a lot of people who couldn't make ends meet," John said, describing tradeoffs; council asked staff to explore incentives for ACH and to measure how many customers still pay in person by card.

Ending: Staff will proceed with a vendor implementation plan for business‑licensing software, prepare estimates of mailing/printing savings and provide options to increase ACH uptake and/or restructure fees for council review.