The Town of Canmore is considering a brand new business registry bylaw and as part of it, significant increases to business licence fees in order to fund economic development work.
Council passed first reading of the new bylaw and scheduled a public hearing for input from the community on March 10 at 6 p.m. at the Civic Centre.
Municipal accounting supervisor Carla Reinhardus and Ron Remple with Canmore Business and Tourism presented the new bylaw to council on Tuesday (Feb. 3) and detailed the reasoning behind the changes.
CBT is contracted by the municipality to do economic development work and has indicated funds received from business licence fees are not enough at the current rate to achieve that mandate as set out in its strategic plan.
Remple said to develop various sectors within the Canmore economy further, a 50 per cent increase for the majority of businesses, except food and beverage establishments, is proposed.
“Part of the rationale for that is there has not been an increase to the business registry fees in 10 years,” he added. “Although 50 per cent sounds like a lot of money, it is really not, for the majority of businesses it is a $50 increase.”
Currently, most local businesses pay $100 and the increase would bring that to $150. Businesses have not yet received their business licence renewals from the municipality for 2015 because of the process to pass a new bylaw and increase fees this year.
Similarly, the municipality has not renewed its contract with CBT past June of this year for the changes in fees to be considered first.
CBT now receives $225,000 in licence fees as part of its contract. The changes would see that increase to $450,000, with a significant increase coming from the food and beverage sector.
Restaurants will go from $100 for a licence if they have less than 70 seats or $400 for more than 70 seats to a fee of $20 per seat with a minimum of $700. It also includes automatic membership in Tourism Canmore Kananaskis, which costs $500 a year.
Remple said CBT has been focusing on developing that particular sector, especially with the establishment of Canmore Uncorked last year. Through discussions with the sector over the last year, three different ways to increase funding for economic development were considered.
Remple said the proposed change to see establishments assessed by the number of seats with a minimum contribution of $700 was preferred by the industry. The key, he said, is to raise $120,000 in revenue from that sector because it benefits significantly from the work CBT does in terms of economic development.
Part of the analysis for fees included looking at an economic impact study of visitor spending in 2012, which showed food and beverage businesses accounted for 37 per cent of the total $270 million spent by tourists, whereas the accommodation sector was 21 per cent.
With 70 per cent of local hotels voluntarily contributing to CBT through a destination marketing fund, there is $1.1 million contributed by accommodation compared to $32,000 by food and beverage establishments through business registry fees and TCK membership.
While economic development for food and beverage and hotels is directly tied to tourism, council asked whether other sectors are being developed in the community.
Remple said CBT’s strategic plan is to look at other sectors and find where the focus and return on investment should go. In particular, he identified health and wellness, food manufacturing and the tech industry.
