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Bend staff propose scaled business registration fee to sustain small‑business grants
Summary
City staff told the Bend advisory board they want to replace the flat business registration fee with a scaled per‑employee model to better align with peer cities and raise an estimated $80,000–$85,000 a year to continue a small‑business grant program; board members urged more modeling on equity and enforcement.
City staff presented a proposal to overhaul Bend’s business registration fee, moving from a flat annual charge to a scaled, per‑employee model intended to better match fees to business size and secure steady funding for a small‑business grant program.
At a BDAB meeting, Katie Brooks of the city’s economic development team said the current flat fee is out of date and that council provided a one‑time $50,000 match for grants this year; staff estimates the scaled approach could raise roughly $80,000–$85,000 annually while lowering fees for very small registrants.
Why it matters: staff said the registration revenue is one of the most reliable local sources for economic development programming and that the city cannot depend on one‑time land‑sale proceeds each year. Brooks said a scaled model would reduce the relative burden on businesses with five or fewer employees while increasing contributions from larger employers.
Board members pushed on methodology and fairness. One member raised that Bend’s strong seasonal employment in hospitality can dramatically change employee counts during summer months and asked whether fees should be based on full‑time equivalents, revenue, or square footage. Brooks said staff had analyzed multiple scenarios and that employment counts are the most practical metric to monitor on an honor system, with opportunity to run additional models before a January council recommendation.
Enforcement and compliance emerged as a central concern. Staff acknowledged current compliance is incomplete—roughly half of businesses were estimated to have active registrations—and that enforcement is resource intensive; staff suggested using utility billing and procurement records where possible and recommended more outreach and a light enforcement strategy to avoid penalizing compliant businesses.
Next steps: staff plans more modeling, outreach and an opportunity for BDAB members to join a subcommittee. The item is expected to return to the board for refinement ahead of a council decision targeted for January.
