Mission-based businesses could be facing a huge increase in their business licence fees next year.
The district is proposing a major shift in its fee structure that would change the current yearly charge of $148 to a five tier system ranging in cost from $250 to $10,000 per year.
According to a letter sent by the district to local businesses, district staff have been reviewing business licence fees and have found that “the current licence fees do not align with the actual service cost to the district.”
Service costs include fire inspections and fire rescue services, RCMP and crime prevention, engineering, bylaw enforcement and more.
Five different business licence categories were created. They include:
Level 1 – $250 per year (caterer, concession, Christmas tree sales, consulting (home-based), daycare (two children or less), farm retail, funeral home and pet services).
Level 2 – $360 per year (includes arcades, car wash, automobile repair, bakery, consulting (not home-based), bottle depot, campground, community college, fitness, pest control and more).
Level 3 – $1,490 per year (includes nursing homes, banks, hotel, land development, liquor store, pharmacy, realtor, daycare (three or more children), restaurant and more).
Level 4 – $5,000 per year (retail and wholesale store with more than 1,858 square metres of floor space).
Level 5 – $10,000 (Casinos, escort services, marijuana, methadone clinic, pawns shops, gold trader and cheque cashing centres.)
Click here for a complete list of businesses in each level.
The new rates are proposed for implementation in January of 2019.
An annual increase of 1.5 per cent has also been proposed.
The district has created an online survey to gauge business owners reactions. The survey can be found at mission.ca/business-licences and will be active until March 21.
Steve Simmonds, manager of inspection services for the district, and the person who signed the letter, could not be reached for comment.
More on this story as it develops.