Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Food Trucks topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Board weighs food-truck permit fee and whether to limit non-event vending
Summary
Board members debated raising the city's mobile food service permit fee and whether to restrict food trucks to special events, citing concerns about fairness to brick-and-mortar restaurants, sales-tax reporting and the city's long-term retail image.
Board members and staff debated whether to raise the mobile food service permit fee and whether to limit food trucks to permitted events, citing economic competition for restaurants, sales-tax reporting and aesthetic concerns.
Joe, a codes department staff member, told the board the city’s mobile food service permit fee is higher than several neighboring municipalities and that he could provide comparisons; he noted other jurisdictions charge roughly $50 to $75 for similar permits. David, a parks official, explained that for park events the department pulls from a list of vendors who hold current food permits and that those event vendors are generally permitted for a year.
Several board members and staff raised the question of whether a higher fee for non-event, on-street vendors could be imposed while leaving event vendor permits unchanged. Joe said that would likely require a uniform fee change, not one limited to particular event types.
Board members cited experiences in surrounding cities. Beau, who previously worked on the issue in Mount Juliet, said that town’s decision to limit trucks was driven by concerns that permanent trucks undercut restaurants that paid for infrastructure such as sidewalks, parking and utility taps. One board member added that Murfreesboro, Smyrna and Nashville had made regulatory changes in the past that affected food-truck prevalence.
Staff noted practical enforcement challenges for transient vendors and recommended researching sales-tax remittance and health/inspection compliance for mobile vendors before making a change. A parks official said raising the permit fee was unlikely to deter food trucks from participating in organized parks events.
No regulatory change or fee increase was adopted during the meeting; members directed staff to gather additional information and present options at a future meeting.
Quote-attribution note: Direct quotes in this article are from the transcript and are attributed to speakers listed in the transcript.
