On Thursday, March 19, 2020, The City of Windsor announced specific modifications to the delivery of all non-essential city services. As a result, all municipal licensing programs were temporarily suspended.

On Monday, July 6, 2020, The City of Windsor’s Licensing Division resumed providing services to the public by an “appointment only” basis. The closure period has and continues to present challenges for licensees of specific business and public vehicle types to renew and comply with the requirements to obtain a licence. Further, Administration has recognized the financial impacts and burdens caused by the COVID-19 pandemic to several of our local businesses and public vehicle services. The purpose of this report is to recommend the extension of licence renewal dates and to waive late penalty fees in an effort to provide some level of financial relief to licensees that operate a business or provide a public vehicle service that is governed under the City of Windsor’s licensing by-laws.

Discussion:

Through Business Licensing Bylaw 395-2004 and Public Vehicle Licensing By-law 137-2007 as amended by By-law150-2018, the City of Windsor’s Licensing Division has the mandate to licence and regulate various business types and public vehicle services such as the hospitality and taxi industries with the purpose of ensuring public safety, consumer protection and nuisance control.

The City of Windsor issues licences to over forty (40) different business and public vehicle for hire classes. Generally speaking, each class of licence is renewed on an annual basis on the by-law prescribed calendar date. Licensees who do not renew their licence on time or fail to meet the requirements to obtain a licence prior to their deadline are liable to pay the licence fee along with a fifty percent (50%) penalty of the base fee. It ought to be known that the City’s municipal licensing fees are based on cost recovery. The fixed costs fund the administration, enforcement and necessary inspections of the licence.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented challenges for a number of our licensees. In addition, the closure of City Hall and temporary suspension of municipal licensing services made it impossible for licensees to comply with renewal deadlines and licence application requirements. Administration has determined that the licence classifications that fall under the February, May and August deadlines have been impacted the most. In response to the challenges and impacts to our licensees, Administration is proposing that these deadlines be deferred until later this year, being December 1, 2020 and that any pending or potential late fees be waived. This initiative would provide our current licensees the benefit of an extension ranging from four (4) to ten (10) months to pay fees and meet licence requirements. The licence classifications identified are as follows:

February 28/29