About The Proposed Business License Fee

As you are probably aware by now, the City has been considering the implementation of a business license fee.  In order to ensure the fee works to the benefit of businesses a group of business people have invested time and energy over the past few months to develop the language and parameters of the fee.  

Business people representing the DCA, CIBA, CRT, the BEC, the Chamber Coalition and others developed a proposal for a business license fee, which can be found in the Chamber Coalition Newsroom.  The report provides some background on how this point was arrived at, while the policy outlines the details on how the fee might be implemented, how much businesses pay, what the revenues will be used for and who will make those decisions.

The March 15 article in the GT outlinesa number of key points about the business license fee being considered.  If the business groups version is adopted it would allow the City to apply for funds along with anyone else, without a guarantee of anything except the administration cost recovery of collecting the fee.There will be two opportunities to comment and make suggestions on the proposed fee. They are as follows:

DevPic Meeting (Corvallis City Council Subcommittee):
March 27, 2008 at 4:00 PM
Madison Avenue Meeting Room, 500 SW Madison Ave (Across from City Hall)

Tentatively scheduled for City Council Meeting:
April 7, 2008 a
7:00 pm (the Council will hear comments from the public)
Downtown Fire Station, 400 NW Harrison

*Depending on what happens at the DevPic meeting and at the City Council meeting, Councilors will choose to decide on the fee as early as the meeting on April 7th, or the fee could be remanded to one of the City’s standing committees. More information about the business license fee can be found in the Chamber Coalition Newsroom. You may also contact me via e-mail, or call the Chamber Coalition office, at 541-757-1505, x 9.

Sincerely, Mysty Rusk, President 

Articles about the proposed Business License Fee featured in the Corvallis Gazette Times

Business fee could go to voters

Editorial: City could help itself by reviving group

Letters to the Editor (Feb. 22)

Councilors to revisit tax ideas

Acronym Key
DCA Downtown Corvallis Association
CIBA Corvallis Independent Business Alliance
EVP Economic Vitality Partnership
BEC Business Enterprise Center
CRT Corporate Round Table
DevPic City subcommittee exploring the implementation of the of the Downtown Strategic Plan and the EVP Prosperity That Fits Economic Strategic Plan