2017-08-08 Finance Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Finance Committee Minutes August 8, 2017 D. Ordinance: Amending Municipal Code Chapter S•o4 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. This item was approved with amendments by the Finance Committee on July 18, 2017, but was referred back to Committee by Committee of the Whole on July 24, 2017. 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 proposed ordinance would assess a flat rate of $70 per full-time employee (defined as 30 hours or more each week) and $50 per part-time employee. As follow-up to the Committee of the Whole discussion, staff provided more detail about how $50 for part-time employee was calculated. Since part-time is defined as fewer than 3o hours per week, and 3o hours is 75% of a typical workweek, the proposed part-time rate was derived as 75%ofthe proposed full-time rate rounded down to a whole number. Staff provided an e-mail from Assistant City Attorney Charlotte Archer recommending that the business license fee structure be amended from a "combined business license fee", which includes both a standard license fee plus a revenue generating license fee, to a "single license fee". Since this change wasn't included in the packet, committee members asked to have the legislation return to the next Finance Committee meeting for further review. To address any unintended consequences of changing the fee structure, staff offered to implementthe proposed changes forthe 2018 license year, and return to committee in mid -2o18 for a comprehensive review of the data collected. Committee member McLeod said he preferred a lateral change in fee structure for part-time employees and recommended $35 instead of $50 since we're moving to this model in advance of going live with the State's system. APPROVED 2-1, WITH COMMITTEE MEMBER MCLEOD OPPOSED. FORWARD TO AUGUST 22, 2017 FINANCE COMMITTEE. 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 AUGUST 22, 2017 FINANCE COMMITTEE. III. MISCELLANEOUS Adjourned at 6:20 P.M. r Committee Chair Approval Minutes by SW