City of Kirksville Takes 7 to Court for Non-Compliance with Business Licensing Ordinances

According to the ordinance passed in February, the City of Kirksville can take legal action against businesses who fail to file for their business licenses/license renewals in time. The deadline for business license renewal was the end of February. Businesses who failed to renew in time received warning of impending water and sewer shut-offs.

Additionally, there is a $20.00 fine for businesses that didn’t renew by March 1 and a $500.00 fine for businesses who failed to renew by April 1. After that businesses could be charged $500.00 a day for operating without a license.

Most of the 17 businesses who failed to renew their licenses in time have since come into compliance; the remaining 7 face court action.

The Department of Revenue requires the city to get proof that businesses don’t owe any sales or property taxes before issuing them an updated business license. This impedes some businesses from receiving the necessary licenses in time.

Some of the businesses facing court action are accused of violating their probation for not renewing their 2010 licenses in time.

According to Kirksville Daily Express, “businesses accused of probation violation were instructed in 2010 to renew their business license before the Feb. 28, 2011 deadline and by missing the deadline were in violation of their probation.”

As the city Finance Director Laura Guy said, “some businesses that are in violation of their probation had a majority of their fines waived in 2010 and were told they needed to get their license before the deadline this year.”

However Guy said, ““we’re way ahead of the game. And we’ve not had anything else come up, no other businesses have appeared that are operating without a license, so that’s a good thing. There is compliance out there.”

To renew your Kirksville business licenses in time visit http://www.businesslicenses.com/Licenses/MO/Adair/Kirksville-2900139026/.

To learn more about our Business License Compliance Software, Services, and Outsourcing visit http://www.businesslicenses.com/services_corporate.php.