The City of Fernie is reviewing its business licence fees to ensure they remain fair, competitive, and reflective of the actual costs of administering the business licence program.

As part of this review, they are seeking input from local businesses on two proposed approaches to updating fees.

The city’s current business licence fee is $100 per year. This base fee has remained static, despite increases in administrative costs and expanded enforcement needs.

City staff time spent on the business licensing process is estimated at over $89,000 annually, not including other costs such as postage or materials. Updating the fee structure will help ensure the program is financially sustainable and better aligned with the services provided to the business community.

The city is exploring two options for updating business licence fees.

Option one: Across-the-board increase. This approach would increase the base annual fee for all businesses from $100 to $150. This would apply the same increase to all businesses (except STRs,) regardless of size or type.

Option two: Tiered fee structure. This option introduces a range of fees based on business type and impact.

A short survey is available for the city to gather feedback on the two proposed approaches.

The survey will remain open until September 12.

Click here to learn more and take the survey.

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