Toccoa Implementing New Penalty for Late Business License Renewals

The city of Toccoa is implementing a penalty for businesses that do not pay their business license fee on time.

Commissioners approved the new penalty on Monday.

A business in the city of Toccoa must pay to renew its business license by March 1 each year.

However, Toccoa City Manager Billy Morse said enforcing that date with a penalty has been difficult based on the way the ordinance was written.

“There is no specific administrative penalty if that payment is not made other than taking them to Municipal Court under the general penalty phase of our ordinance,” said Morse of the situation the city was dealing with. “We have not done that. That is a lot of trouble obviously.”

That, Morse said, is why, staff wanted the commission to consider an administrative penalty fee.

Morse said that would allow City Clerk Fredda Wheeler to charge that administrative penalty immediately when the business came in to renew its license late.

Wheeler said a flat fee would be easier for her to implement than something based off of a percentage of the license cost.

“It is the same amount of work and revenue involved on our end to track them down, keep calling them, send the Code Enforcement officer out there no matter what,” said Wheeler.

Currently, the cost to renew a business license varies based on the business’s gross revenues from the prior year, so a renewal can range from $32 all the way up into the thousands of dollars.

With that in mind, Mayor Jeanette Jamieson proposed setting a $50 late penalty for businesses whose license renewal is less than $500 and a $100 late penalty for businesses whose license renewal is more than $500.

City Commissioner Terry Carter said he likes that idea.

“I like the fact that someone who pays more, there is a different penalty amount that reflects more what they pay,” said Carter.

During their meeting on Monday, Toccoa City Commissioners unanimously approved Jamieson’s proposal.

The city also noted that it can still cite a business that does not renew its license and take them to Municipal Court and then charge the business any fees the city incurs in collecting the penalty.