MC fee controversy continues

Too much like Swiss cheese.

That’s how some Madison County residents are reacting to the county’s new $30 business license fee that leaves loopholes that exempt many businesses from paying it. Most of the loopholes though are dictated by state law, according to Madison County Board of Supervisors Chairman Dave Allen.

And despite somewhat of a public outcry, at least one supervisor still says it is needed to help balance the current fiscal year’s budget.

Supervisor Pete Elliott said, “If we put this in the budget and we use this number to balance the budget, we should use it to get that money and try to balance the budget with that money. Instead we keep trying to take money from somewhere else to make up for what we did wrong. … You can’t keep robbing Peter to pay Paul.”

Elliott made the comments at the superviors’ Jan. 10 regular monthly meeting.

But Hood resident Chip Carver was one of seven citizens at the meeting who publicly questioned the number of businesses that the fee, which took effect Jan. 1, exempts from paying. “Who is actually going to pay for this?” Carver asked.

Jacki Eisenberg of Courthouse Mountain echoed Carver in wondering why some businesses are exempt. She also wanted to know if tutors in the county were exempt from the business license fee. 

“If this is supposed to be a business license, I would think all businesses should be covered,” Eisenberg told the supervisors. “If the state exempts certain ones like nonprofits -- that I understand. Do they exempt ones like mineral mining? That damages our county -- not other places.”

She also wanted to know if artists and crafts people would have to pay, since they have irregular sales. She wanted to know why insurance companies, banks and newspapers are exempt, as well as some other businesses.

The business license fee was proposed to generate $20,000 to balance the current year’s fiscal budget. There are approximately 600 businesses that pay sales tax in the county that this business license fee would apply to, said County Attorney V.R. “Shack” Shackelford. He said it would not affect the county’s peddler’s ordinance, which is a separate regulation.

Supervisor Jerry Butler ended up recusing himself from the discussion, saying it was because he has a business. (He did not name or say what the business is).

The supervisors did not take action Jan. 10 on the measure, which has also been discussed at several previous supervisors meetings. They agreed to discuss it again at their 2 p.m. Jan. 30 workshop at the Madison fire hall. (The workshops are temporarily moving to accommodate the county’s electoral board, which is using the usual workshop location at the County Thrift Road Complex.)

As it stands now, the fee is due no later than Feb. 29. Supervisors said they may have to change that date to give businesses more time to pay. One of the things the supervisors brought up was calling it a “registration” and not a business license “fee.” The idea is to change its focus to adding to a data base of who is doing business in Madison County, rather than presenting it as just another way to collect revenue.

Madison Chamber of Commerce President Steve Grayson said he’d like to see street festival vendors exempt from the fee. He said 60,000 people total attend downtown Madison’s Taste of the Mountains festival and the Apple Harvest Festival at Graves Mountain Lodge in Syria. He said the festivals raise $10 million total in tourism for the county.

 “I challenge you to support the 60,000 people coming into the county (who bring the) monies (that are spent) in meal taxes and sales taxes and business at local merchants and so forth,” Grayson said. “They nearly offset the cost.”

Grayson added, “If these fees are implemented, then vendors will stop coming. If the vendors stop coming, then the public stops coming.” 

Nick McDowell of Madison wanted to know if Internet businesses would be exempt. He did not get an answer.

“Mountain Bill” Campbell of Lost Valley said, “Most of the issues were brought up at the original meeting and weren’t paid any attention to.”

Jimmy Graves, whose family operates Graves Mountain Lodge in Syria, wanted to know who is going to collect the business license fee. He said he doesn’t want the county trying to “nickel and dime” the vendors at street festivals.

“There are some businesses, if they don’t have the right product, they are not going to sell $30 worth of stuff,” Graves said of the festival vendors. “We are trying to get every penny we can from some form of tax from the people of Madison County and anybody else who comes through Madison County. You better be trying to get some businesses, big businesses, but a lot of you don’t want big businesses.” 

Supervisor Doris Lackey said she had a different take on the business license fee.  

Lackey said, “Right now, it sounds pretty muddled. We really do want to understand and want to have all of the businesses that operate in the county have licenses -- how do we go about that? This great confusion over the exemptions I think is certainly has to be addressed. I would rather see us require a license from every business and not attach a fee to it, if what we really want we do is understand what are the operating businesses in the county and not have any exemptions and have everybody who does business in the county have a license.”

Allen said it was an “oversight” (including the vendors at street festivals) when the ordinance was originally adopted.

“The exemptions that are in here are pretty much boilerplate. Most of them are required by some other legislative action by the state,” Allen said.

He said the main purpose of the license as he understood it was to get a data base of the businesses in Madison County.