City raises business fees

For the first time in 35 years, the city of Whitefish is raising its business license fees.

A recent audit of the fees to look at the city’s short-term rental fees revealed that the business license fees had not changed since 1983, according to City Manager Adam Hammatt.

He said staff looked at the amount of time it spends on paperwork and inspections related to the license and came up with a new fee structure with updated rates. In the future, the city plans to periodically update the fees.

“I prefer small increments of increases rather than waiting for larger increases,” Hammatt said. “Other areas were supplementing the fees and we needed to take care of that.”

City Council Feb. 5 approved the change.

The changes in rates equate to a 2.5 percent annualized rate increase. The dollar amount of many of the fees will double or nearly double under the new rates.

The home occupation license goes from $15 to $35 and the contractor license increases from $30 to $70.

All other business license fees are based on floor area square footage. In the zero to 499 feet range, the rate increases from $30 to $70. At the high end of the square footage range for businesses over 10,000 square feet, the license goes from $100 to $190.

Kevin Gartland, executive director of the Whitefish Chamber of Commerce, made a brief comment on the changes to Council.

“The chamber feels these are fair, but we’d like to see smaller increases in the future,” he said.

The short-term rental application fee and business license will now be $100 plus $50 for each short-term rental unit.

The new fees will not go into effect for currently registered businesses until December 2018 when they have to renew their license. However, new businesses and registering short-term rentals will pay the new fees immediately.