Business owners within the city limits of Wetumpka debated not paying the new business license fees, moving their businesses out of the city or even suing the city over the new fees during a meeting held in a Wetumpka restaurant Wednesday.
The debate centers around the new business licencse fee schedules which were unanimously passed by the Wetumpka City Council on Dec. 1, 2014, adjusted and passed again during a special-called meeting on Dec. 10.
Just before the New Year, business owners received their bill for the 2015 business license and noticed a significant change.
“This gives (businesses) no time to adjust, and this is just wrong,” said Tru-Turn Hooks owner Wes Campbell, who said his business license fees increased by 2,500 percent.
Owners at the meeting could identify with the significant increase.
Car dealership owners saw their business license fees jump from an average of $585 to more than $8,500.
The fee schedule is based on gross receipts, according to the new ordinance.
But the issue most owners have is the obvious lack of communication from the city.
The Herald surveyed business owners at the meeting as well as those not attending and not a single letter or phone call was received from anyone within the city’s administration to give owners an idea of how much their fees may increase.
“This is hard to swallow,” said property owner and businessman Keith Holley. “I just had one business tell me they are going to have to move out because they can’t afford the business license. We could lose between 10-20 percent of our tenants because of this.”
After the license fee bills were received in late December, some business owners said “shock was an understatement.”
Wetumpka Mayor Jerry Willis told the Herald the adjusted fee schedule was to put the city “in line” with other cities in and around the tri-county area.
“This is not to hurt anyone. It’s to be fair across the board,” Willis said.
That’s not how the city’s business owners are seeing it.
Riverside Chevrolet owner Terry Styron told the owners at the meeting he would be willing to contribute $5,000 toward retaining an attorney and filing suit against the city.
After Styron made that claim at least four others jumped on board and said they would contribute to the cause.
Wetumpka Chamber of Commerce Executive Directory Vanessa Lynch also said she has received a fair share of irate calls from business owners from within the city.
“Our goal is simply to be informed and engaged with the conversation happening between business owners,” she told The Herald. “As a chamber, it is important that we stand with our business community on issues that affect them, as well as decisions that may adversely affect business retention and recruitment.
“Our hope is that our business community and elected officials can work together to find a balance that helps the city reach their goals, while not placing such a high burden on our businesses without time to budget and prepare for the increased costs.”
The city council is scheduled to meet Jan. 20.
Business owners said they were told by Willis that an extension on the deadline for businesses to pay their fees would be discussed with a May 1 deadline to be recommended.
