2017-07-18 Finance Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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FINANCE COMMITTEE Meeting Minutes City Council Finance Committee July 18, 2017- 5:30 p.m. - Hazelnut Conference Room, City Hall Councilmembers: Verna Seal, Chair; Thomas McLeod Staff: David Cline, Jay Wittwer, Peggy McCarthy, Vicky Carlsen, Cindy Wilkins, Laurel Humphrey CALL TO ORDER: Chair Seal called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. I. PRESENTATIONS II. BUSINESSAGENDA A. Ordinance: Amending Municipal Code Chapter 5.04 Staff is seeking Council approval of an ordinance that would amend Tukwila Municipal Code Chapter 5.04, "Licenses Generally," to replace "FTE" with "employee" regarding the business license fee structure. Recent Washington State legislation will require the City to use the State's online business license system within the next few years, and staff recommends changing the current fee schedule to be based upon flat rates per employee totals to streamline the process in preparation for moving to the State system. The City's current method of using FTE hours to calculate the business license fees is confusing and time consuming for applicants, resulting in many errors requiring significant staff time to address. The proposed ordinance would instead assess a flat rate of $70 per full -time employee (defined as 30 hours or more each week) and $50 per part -time employee. Staff distributed a chart comparing the proposed rate vs the 2016 actual fees paid as well as a comprehensive list of business licenses as of June 13, 2017. Councilmember McLeod expressed concern about the proposed penalties for underreporting as described in Section F of the draft ordinance. Staff offered building in a grace period for underreporting and the Committee approved the amendment which will be reviewed by the City Attorney and included in the Ordinance. After more robust discussion, the Committee requested that the Committee of the Whole packet include the chart showing the comparison of proposed rate vs 2016 actuals. UNANIMOUS APPROVAL AS AMENDED. FORWARD TO JULY 24, 2017 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE. Resolution: Adopting a Revised Business License Fee Schedule Staff is seeking Council approval of a resolution that would adopt the revised business license fee schedule pursuant to the draft ordinance discussed above. UNANIMOUS APPROVAL. FORWARD TO JULY 24, 2017 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE.