Council approves change aligning downtown BID fees with business-license billing

The Oroville City Council on Oct. 21 unanimously approved an amendment to Oroville Municipal Code Chapter 5.06 to align Business Improvement District (BID) fee billing with business-license billing and to require prorated BID fees for new businesses.

City staff said the current practice invoiced BID fees in December but set the due date in July while business licenses were billed in December and due in January, producing confusion among merchants in the downtown area. Staff reported the Downtown Business Association voted to align the deadlines so both fees are billed and due in January going forward. For businesses that already paid for half of the fiscal year, the city will bill 50% for the second half of 2026 and then full amounts thereafter.

Vice Mayor Smith said the change would reduce staff time spent answering billing questions and called it “fair and prudent.” There were no public comments during the hearing. After closing the public hearing the council voted to adopt the requested amendments without dissent.

The change also modifies the treatment of newly established businesses; under the adopted amendment those businesses will pay their BID fee in their inaugural year on a prorated basis tied to the number of months remaining in the billing year.

Council directed staff to implement the billing calendar change and update administrative procedures and notices to downtown merchants. The ordinance amendment was introduced and adopted by unanimous roll-call vote.

The action follows requests from the Downtown Business Association and aims to reduce confusion and administrative burden around two separate invoices that previously arrived at different times of the year.