Canmore’s elected officials will decide whether to phase in business registry fee changes targeted at the food and beverage industry when a proposed bylaw returns for second and third reading at the end of the month.
At a public hearing earlier in March, Canmore Business and Tourism president Andrew Nickerson presented a revised recommendation on fee changes which have concerned business owners.
Nickerson said changes that would charge restaurants a minimum $700 and calculate fees based on $20 per seat may be too much too soon and proposed council consider changes to phase the increase over three years.
Council will consider amending the bylaw when it considers it at second reading to a $300 minimum registry fee for food and beverage businesses and a $10 per seat charge in 2015.
All business registry fees go to CBT, which is contracted by the municipality to do economic development. CBT was asked by council to review the registry as a mechanism to perform economic development work and the bylaw changes being considered are the result of that.
Currently, all businesses pay $100 for a licence, which is also proposed to increase to $150 for all other industries. CBT recommended food and beverage businesses pay a much larger fee because they benefit significantly from tourism. A 2012 economic impact study of tourism in Canmore identified food and beverage as 32.3 per cent of visitor spend and accommodation 21 per cent.
The registry collects approximately $250,000 in business licence fees and the originally proposed changes would increase that to $500,000, with an extra $120,000 coming from food and beverage businesses.
“Not a penny of excess dollars are going to get used for tourism marketing,” Nickerson said. “We are looking for increased funding so we can be far more robust in economic development and grow other sectors of the economy.”
