City Officials Approve Reduced Business License Fees for Grand Rapids, Michigan

With many individuals struggling against a hurting economy, the Grand Rapids City Commission announced some good news to business owners. The fees for close to 50 business licenses were decreased for the 2011-2012 applications. The changes go into effect beginning July 1, 2011.

“We are constantly looking for ways to be efficient,” Grand Rapids City Clerk Lauri Parks said, as quoted in Michigan Live. “Cooperation is the main reason why we are seeing the decreases.”

For the past five years, business license fees have gone up; so this change comes as a welcoming change to most business owners. The decreases to licenses varied from as little as $1.00 to close to $100.00. Pedicab drivers benefitted the most from fee changes with costs for license renewals reduced from $186.00 to $90.00.

There were, however, 12 business licenses whose fees were increased. For example, the cost for getting a going-out-of-business-sale permit has gone up from $50 to $194.

WoodTV reports that business license adjustments were made “as a result of labor costs (salary, pension and health care), overhead and material costs, time requirements, and departmental reviews.”

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