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Contractor HDL reports $61,000 recovered and launches discovery phase for Clayton business licenses
Summary
HDL, the city’s business‑license vendor, reported about $61,000 recovered from delinquent accounts since the contract began, cleaned data inconsistencies from prior records, and launched a discovery effort expected to generate new revenue; council asked questions about data integrity and contract billing.
The Clayton City Council received a presentation on the city’s business license administration contract with HDL on April 1, during which HDL reported progress on administrations, collections, and discovery.
Ian Davis, senior compliance manager at HDL, said operations management began in September 2023, collections began Feb. 15, 2024, and discovery services launched the week of March 24, 2025. "The discovery program will identify unlicensed businesses and, in the first year, should generate at least 10% of your current business license revenue," Davis said.
HDL reported 524 active accounts under management and $61,000 recovered from delinquent businesses since the contract started, including $52,444.85 in 2024. Davis said initial data transferred from the city overstated the number of businesses (staff were told ~1,300 but HDL found ~600 active registrants), which contributed to early data‑matching problems; HDL said it has since scrubbed records and will contact taxpayers as part of discovery and cleanup efforts.
Council members pressed HDL and staff on several points: how renewal notices are timed (initial notices mid‑ to late April for June 30 expirations), whether small‑revenue discounts remain in effect (HDL: yes, per current code), and how the discovery contingency fee structure works (HDL: discovery is revenue‑share/contingency; administration costs to the city were lower than estimated — about $8,000 actual vs. a projected $18,000). Assistant City Manager Regina Rubio said the midyear dip in revenue likely reflected transition work during the contract handover and expects fiscal‑year receipts to approach budget.
Davis said HDL’s process includes outreach by mail, email, phone, and database matching using web scraping and public data; regulatory or zoning issues discovered after registration are referred to planning/code enforcement for follow‑up. The council had no additional public comment and accepted the report.
