Auburn council approves contract amendment to outsource business-license administration

Gretchen Hoskins, the city’s finance director, asked the Auburn City Council to approve an amendment to an existing contract to add business-license administration and expand transient-occupancy tax (TOT) and short-term rental collection services.

"I'm Gretchen Hoskins, your finance director," Hoskins said in presenting the proposal, which noted the city currently administers nearly 2,000 active business licenses and collected about $206,000 from those licenses. Hoskins said adding the business-license component to HDL's services would be charged at $19 per license ("that equates to about $34,000 annually") and would raise the contract maximum to about $155,000 while eliminating many in-house administrative costs, including postage.

The finance director said HDL already hosts the city's customer portal and has been performing TOT and short-term rental collection work; the amendment would extend the vendor’s services and include a one-time setup or contingency fee for locating noncompliant businesses. Hoskins told the council staff expects the shift to reduce in-house workload and allow finance staff to focus on financial reporting.

Council members who spoke on the item praised the efficiency gains and the online customer portal. One council member said the proposal would help the city locate businesses that may have allowed licenses to lapse, and another emphasized the importance of modernizing services for a small city’s limited staff resources.

A council member moved to approve the staff recommendation, a second was recorded, and the council approved the contract amendment by roll call vote.

The amendment adds the business-license component to the city’s existing HDL contract and extends the vendor’s TOT services; specific contract language and final amounts will be included in the implementing agreement.