Chapter 5.05
BUSINESS LICENSES
Sections:
5.05.040 Application of regulations.
5.05.050 Town License Officer.
5.05.060 Procedure for issuance of license.
5.05.070 Determination of license fee.
5.05.090 License fee addition to others.
5.05.100 Enforcement and penalties.
5.05.010 Short title.
This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the “Business Licensing Ordinance of the Town of Wilkeson.” [Ord. 95.17 § 1, 1995].
5.05.020 Scope.
It is not intended by this chapter to repeal, abrogate, annul or in any way impair or interfere with the existing provisions of other laws or ordinances, except those specifically repealed by the ordinance codified in this chapter. Where this chapter imposes a greater restriction upon persons, premises or personal property than is imposed or required by such existing provisions of law, ordinance, contract, or deed, the provisions of this chapter shall control. [Ord. 95.17 § 2, 1995].
5.05.030 Definitions.
For the purpose of this chapter, the following terms, phrases, words and their derivations shall have the meanings given in this section. When not inconsistent with the context, words used in the present tense include the future, words in the plural number include the singular number, and words in the singular number include the plural number. The word “shall” is always mandatory and not merely directory.
“Day” means one (1) full day and not two (2) half days nor any fractional part of one (1) day.
“Employee” means all full-time and permanent part-time employees and includes the owner or owners of the business if they work on the premises.
Engaging in Business.
1. The term “engaging in business” means commencing, conducting, or continuing in business, and also the exercise of corporate or franchise powers, as well as liquidating a business when the liquidators thereof hold themselves out to the public as conducting such business.
2. This section sets forth examples of activities that constitute engaging in business in the Town, and establishes safe harbors for certain of those activities so that a person who meets the criteria may engage in de minimis business activities in the Town without having to pay a business license fee. The activities listed in this section are illustrative only and are not intended to narrow the definition of “engaging in business” in subsection (1) of this definition. If an activity is not listed, whether it constitutes engaging in business in the Town shall be determined by considering all the facts and circumstances and applicable law.
3. Without being all-inclusive, any one (1) of the following activities conducted within the Town by a person, or its employee, agent, representative, independent contractor, broker or another acting on its behalf, constitutes engaging in business and requires a person to register and obtain a business license:
a. Owning, renting, leasing, maintaining, or having the right to use, or using, tangible personal property, intangible personal property, or real property permanently or temporarily located in the Town.
b. Owning, renting, leasing, using, or maintaining an office, place of business, or other establishment in the Town.
c. Soliciting sales.
d. Making repairs or providing maintenance or service to real or tangible personal property, including warranty work and property maintenance.
e. Providing technical assistance or service, including quality control, product inspections, warranty work, or similar services on or in connection with tangible personal property sold by the person or on its behalf.
f. Installing, constructing, or supervising installation or construction of real or tangible personal property.
g. Soliciting, negotiating, or approving franchise, license, or other similar agreements.
h. Collecting current or delinquent accounts.
i. Picking up and transporting tangible personal property, solid waste, construction debris, or excavated materials.
j. Providing disinfecting and pest control services, employment and labor pool services, home nursing care, janitorial services, appraising, landscape architectural services, security system services, surveying, and real estate services, including the listing of homes and managing real property.
k. Rendering professional services such as those provided by accountants, architects, attorneys, auctioneers, consultants, engineers, professional athletes, barbers, baseball clubs and other sports organizations, chemists, psychologists, court reporters, dentists, doctors, detectives, laboratory operators, teachers, veterinarians.
l. Meeting with customers or potential customers, even when no sales or orders are solicited at the meetings.
m. Training or recruiting agents, representatives, independent contractors, brokers or others, domiciled or operating on a job in the Town, acting on its behalf, or for customers or potential customers.
n. Investigating, resolving, or otherwise assisting in resolving customer complaints.
o. In-store stocking or manipulating products or goods, sold to and owned by a customer, regardless of where sale and delivery of the goods took place.
p. Delivering goods in vehicles owned, rented, leased, used, or maintained by the person or another acting on its behalf.
4. If a person, or its employee, agent, representative, independent contractor, broker or another acting on the person’s behalf, engages in no other activities in or with the Town but the following, it need not register and obtain a business license:
a. Meeting with suppliers of goods and services as a customer.
b. Meeting with government representatives in their official capacity, other than those performing contracting or purchasing functions.
c. Attending meetings, such as board meetings, retreats, seminars, and conferences, or other meetings wherein the person does not provide training in connection with tangible personal property sold by the person or on its behalf. This provision does not apply to any board of directors member or attendee engaging in business such as a member of a board of directors who attends a board meeting.
d. Renting tangible or intangible property as a customer when the property is not used in the Town.
e. Attending, but not participating in, a “trade show” or “multiple vendor events.” Persons participating at a trade show shall review the Town’s trade show or multiple vendor event ordinances.
f. Conducting advertising through the mail.
g. Soliciting sales by phone from a location outside the Town.
5. A seller located outside the Town merely delivering goods into the Town by means of common carrier is not required to register and obtain a business license; provided, that it engages in no other business activities in the Town. Such activities do not include those in subsection (4) of this definition.
The Town expressly intends that engaging in business include any activity sufficient to establish nexus for purposes of applying the license fee under the law and the constitutions of the United States and the state of Washington. Nexus is presumed to continue as long as the taxpayer benefits from the activity that constituted the original nexus generating contact or subsequent contacts.
“General business license” means a license issued under this chapter.
“License” or “licensee,” as used generally in this chapter, includes, respectively, the words “permit,” or “permittee,” or the “holder” for any use or period of time of any similar privilege, wherever relevant to any provision of this chapter or other law or ordinance.
“Nonprofit group” includes individual person(s), partnerships, joint ventures, societies, associations, clubs, trustees, trusts or corporations; or any officers, agents, employees, factors or any kind of personal representatives of any thereof, in any capacity, acting either for himself or any other person under either personal appointment or pursuant to law who qualifies under definition of and certification by the Internal Revenue Service as nonprofit.
“Person” includes individual natural persons, partnerships, joint ventures, societies, associations, clubs, trustees, trusts or corporations; or any officers, agents, employees, factors or any kind of personal representatives of any thereof, in any capacity, acting either for himself or any other person, under either personal appointment or pursuant to law.
“Premises” includes all lands, structures and places, and also any personal property which is either affixed to or is otherwise used in connection with any such business conducted on such premises.
“Special license” means any license required by this title in any chapter other than this chapter.
“Surety bond” means a surety company bond with the licensee as principal and some surety company authorized to do business in the state as surety. Such bond must be approved by the Town Attorney, as to form, and by the Mayor and Clerk as to sufficiency of the surety.
“Town” is the Town of Wilkeson, Washington.
“Town Council” is the Town Council of the Town of Wilkeson, Washington.
“Town license officer” is the Community Development Director of Wilkeson, Washington.
“Year” means the period from July 1st through June 30th. [Ord. 2018.08 § 1, 2018; amended during 2014 codification; Ord. 95.17 § 3, 1995].
5.05.040 Application of regulations.
A. Compliance Required.
1. It is unlawful for any person, either directly or indirectly, to engage in any business for which a license or permit is required by any law or ordinance of the Town, without a license or permit therefor being first procured and kept in effect at all such times as required by this title or other law or ordinance of the Town.
2. All licenses issued pursuant to the provisions of this title shall be posted in a prominent location at the premises where the licensed business, profession, trade or occupation is carried out or on the person of anyone issued a solicitor’s or mobile vendor’s license.
3. Threshold Exemption. To the extent set forth in this section, the following persons and businesses shall be exempt from the registration, license and/or license fee requirements as outlined in this chapter:
a. Any nonprofit group, or person or business whose annual value of products, gross proceeds of sales, or gross income of the business in the Town is equal to or less than two thousand dollars ($2,000) (or higher threshold as determined by Town) and who does not maintain a place of business within the Town shall be exempt from the general business license requirements in this chapter. The exemption does not apply to regulatory license requirements or activities that require a specialized permit.
B. Garage Sales. Any person operating a garage sale for more than three (3) days in any one (1) month shall be required to obtain a business license. A garage sale is defined as the sale of used merchandise not in the normal course of business.
C. Agents Responsible for Obtaining License. The agents or other representatives of nonresidents who are doing business in this Town shall be personally responsible for the compliance of their principals and the businesses they represent with this chapter.
D. Separate License for Branch Establishments. A license shall be obtained in the manner prescribed herein for each branch establishment or location where a separate business is operated; provided, that warehouses and distributing plants used in connection with and incidental to a business licensed under the provisions of this chapter shall not be deemed to be separate places of business or branch establishments.
E. Joint License. A person engaged in two (2) or more businesses at the same location shall not be required to obtain separate licenses for conducting each of such businesses but, when eligible, shall be issued one (1) license which shall specify on its face all such businesses.
F. Transferability. No license issued shall be transferable to subsequent owners of the business. [Ord. 2018.08 § 2, 2018; Ord. 95.17 § 4, 1995].
5.05.050 Town License Officer.
The Town License Officer shall:
A. Collect all license fees and issue licenses in the name of the Town to all persons qualified under the provisions of this chapter.
B. Adopt all forms and prescribe the information to be given therein as to character and other relevant matter for all necessary papers.
C. Obtain Endorsement. Submit all applications, in a proper case, to interested Town officials for their endorsements thereon as to compliance by the applicant with all Town regulations which they have the duty of enforcing.
D. Give Notice. Notify any applicant of the acceptance or rejection of his/her application and shall, upon the refusal of any license or permit, at the applicant’s request, state in writing the reasons therefor and deliver them to the applicant. [Ord. 95.17 § 5, 1995].
5.05.060 Procedure for issuance of license.
A. Formal Application Required. Every person required to procure a license under the provisions of any ordinance or law of the Town shall submit an application for such license to the License Officer. The application shall be a written statement upon a form provided by the License Officer and which the License Officer shall find to be reasonably necessary to the fair administration of this chapter.
B. The application for license shall be accompanied by the full amount of the fee chargeable for such license.
C. Whenever a license cannot be issued at the time the application for the same is made, the License Officer shall issue a receipt to the applicant for the money paid in advance, subject to the following condition: Such receipt shall not be construed as the approval of the License Officer for the issuance of a license; nor shall it entitle or authorize the applicant to open or maintain any business contrary to the provisions of this chapter.
D. A duplicate license or a special permit shall be issued by the License Officer to replace any license previously issued, which has been lost, stolen, defaced, or destroyed, without any willful conduct on the part of the licensee, upon the filing by the licensee of an affidavit attesting to such fact and the payment to the License Officer of a fee as set forth by resolution.
E. The License Officer shall, upon disapproving any application submitted under the provisions of this chapter, refund all fees paid in advance to the applicant, provided the applicant is not otherwise indebted to the Town.
F. When the issuance of a license is denied and any action is instituted by the applicant to compel its issuance, such applicant shall not engage in the business for which the license was refused unless a license be issued to him pursuant to a judgment ordering the same. [Ord. 2004.18 § 1, 2004; Ord. 95.17 § 6, 1995].
5.05.070 Determination of license fee.
A. Except as otherwise provided for specific activities in this chapter, the fee for each business license shall be as set forth by resolution, which shall accompany the application for license.
B. All licenses shall be renewable on the first day of July of each year. Licenses not timely renewed by July 1st of each year shall incur an additional fee as set forth by resolution. [Ord. 2006.11 § 2, 2006; Ord. 2004.18 § 1, 2004; Ord. 95.17 § 7, 1995].
5.05.080 Mailing of notices.
Any notice required by this chapter to be mailed to any licensee shall be sent by ordinary mail, addressed to the address of the licensee as shown by the records of the License Officer, or, if no such address is shown, to such address as the License Officer is able to ascertain by reasonable effort. Failure of the licensee to receive such mailed notice shall not release the licensee from any fee or penalties thereon, nor shall such failure operate to extend any time limit set by the provisions of this chapter. [Ord. 95.17 § 8, 1995].
5.05.090 License fee addition to others.
The license fee herein levied shall be additional to those required by any other ordinance of the Town, except as herein otherwise expressly provided. [Ord. 95.17 § 9, 1995].
5.05.100 Enforcement and penalties.
A. Collection as Debt. Any license fee due and unpaid and delinquent under this chapter, and all penalties thereon, may be collected by civil action, which remedy shall be in addition to any and all other existing remedies and penalties.
B. Revocation of License. The Town Council of Wilkeson may revoke the license issued to any licensee (1) who is in default of any payment of any license fee hereunder, or (2) who shall fail to obtain or keep in effect at all times all licenses or permits required by any law or ordinance of the Town of Wilkeson, Pierce County, or the State of Washington, including but not limited to zoning, building, health and fire laws, or (3) who shall fail to comply with any provisions of this chapter.
C. Revocation Procedure. A hearing shall be held by the Council of the Town of Wilkeson prior to a revocation of a business license. Notice of the revocation hearing shall be mailed to the licensee by the license officer no less than two (2) weeks prior to the hearing date. If the Council determines after a hearing that the business license should be revoked then on and after the date thereof such licensee who continues to engage in business shall be deemed to be operating without a license and shall be subject to any and all penalties herein provided.
D. Penalties. Any person willfully violating or failing to comply with any of the provisions of this chapter or any lawful rule or regulation adopted by the Council pursuant thereto shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not to exceed three hundred dollars ($300.00). [Ord. 95.17 § 10, 1995].