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Entertainment Commission hears update on ‘First Year Free’ permitting program; staff reports retroactive referral fee billing
Summary
The commission received a detailed update on the city’s First Year Free program, including enrollment and fee-waiver totals, a retroactive change to allow eligible planning referral fees to be charged to the program effective July 1, 2024, and a budget-neutral claim from staff.
The San Francisco Entertainment Commission on Tuesday received a report from Executive Director Wyland on the city’s First Year Free program and other administrative items, including scheduling for the commission's remaining meetings this year.
Wyland said the First Year Free program — implemented by the city treasurer and tax collector’s office — began on Nov. 1, 2021, and has been extended several times; the most recent extension runs through June 30, 2025. “Since its implementation over 8,700 businesses have enrolled,” Wyland said, adding that the department has waived 134 permit applications and associated license fees, totaling $155,865 in waived fees. Wyland said the waivers are reimbursed to the relevant city agencies and therefore have had “no negative budgetary impact.”
Wyland also described a recent administrative change to how planning referral fees are handled for eligible First Year Free businesses. He said the office began charging eligible planning referral fees to the First Year Free program effective July 1, 2024, and that a recent first-quarter planning invoice showed 16 First Year Free businesses were billed through the program, reducing that quarter’s referral charge from nearly $6,000 to about $2,000. Wyland said the office is reviewing earlier quarterly invoices but cautioned that retroactive recovery of prior years’ referral costs may be “a pretty challenging request.”
The executive director framed the program as a permitting success: Wyland reported year-over-year permit application volume increases from 435 to 551 applications (about a 26.67% increase) and described the growth as an indicator of industry health. “The great part about the First Year Free program is that all of the fees that are waived are still reimbursed to the respective city agency,” Wyland said, describing the impact as helping keep permit numbers high while limiting budgetary impact.
Commission President Ben Lyman asked whether the part-time inspector position had been filled; Wyland said there was no public announcement yet but expected one at the next hearing.
The report concluded with Wyland asking commissioners to raise further questions and promising to provide updates on referral-fee calculations and budget options.
The commission took no formal action on the report; it moved on to agenda items after a brief question from President Lyman.
