November 30

Risk Analysis:

An analysis of the risks associated with deferring municipal licence deadlines and waiving pending and potential late fee penalties was performed. Should this initiative be approved by Council, the associated risk to the City being financial, is low. However, there could be a significant reputational risk to the City should Council decide not to provide some form of relief and consideration during this time of crisis to our municipal business and public vehicle licensees.

Financial Matters:

The City of Windsor’s municipal licensing fees are regulated under both Business Licensing Bylaw 395-2004 and Public Vehicle Licensing By-law 137-2007 as amended by By-law 150-2018. As previously mentioned, our licensing fees are based on a cost recovery model in an effort to fund the administration, enforcement and necessary inspections of the licence. In addition, 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.

Licensing Administration is proposing to continue collecting the regulated licence fees but as an act of good faith due to the COVID-19 pandemic, waive any pending or potential late fees and defer deadlines until December 1, 2020 for the licence categories that fell, or will fall, under the February, May and August deadlines of this year.

Last year, in 2019, the Licensing Division collected $25,600 in late renewal fees. So far this year, up until municipal licensing services were suspended on March 19, 2020, the Licensing Division has collected $11,300 in late renewal fees.

Approximately 120 businesses, mostly within the hospitality industry, are known by Administration to have not renewed their business’s licence yet this year. These business licences currently have pending late renewal fees that are strictly associated with the February 2020 deadline. By waiving those 120 late fees, the City would be looking at a shortfall of approximately $11, 500.

The potential late renewal fees that are associated with the remaining monthly deadlines for May, August, October and November 2020, either occurred during the time municipal licensing services were temporarily suspended or are occurring later this year. It is difficult to determine the shortfall of these late fees given the current crisis