The cost of doing business is set for a surge in Tofino.
Tofino’s municipal council recently unanimously endorsed a 40 per cent increase in business licence fees over the next two years.
The town’s fire chief and manager of protective services Brent Baker pitched the increase idea during a Nov. 1 Committee of the Whole meeting.
Baker explained the town’s current business licence regulation bylaw was adopted in 2000 and most of the district’s business licence fees remain unchanged since then, with the exception of vacation rental properties that saw a fee increase in 2018.
“There’s been considerable growth in the business sector of Tofino including the types of business and the way that businesses are managed,” Baker said.
He recommended that the vacation rental fees that were increased in 2018 be increased by 8 per cent in 2022 and 2 per cent each year after to keep up with inflation and that all other business licences be raised by 20 per cent in 2022 and 20 per cent in 2023, followed by annual 2 per cent increases.
Those consecutive 20 per cent increases would equate to a roughly $100 increase to most current business licence fees in 2023.
A licensed food service currently pays $250 for a business licence, that fee would be $300 in 2022 and $360 in 2023.
A commercial retail business of over 300 square metres currently pays $400 for a business licence, which would be increased to $480 in 2022 and $576 in 2023.
A hotel, resort or campground currently pays $225, which would increase to $270 in 2022 and $324 in 2023.
“Those types of businesses also do have an additional fee per room or campsite as well,” Baker noted.
One-room vacation rentals and bed and breakfasts all currently pay $450 for a business licence, which would be increased to $486 in 2022 with the 8 per cent increase.
Each additional room currently costs $75, which would see a modest increase up to $81 in 2022.
Coun. Al Anderson cautioned that the timing of the proposed increases could be problematic for businesses hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.
“Food service is one of the areas, at least the restaurants, that have been hit particularly hard by COVID and we might want to go easy on the increase in the next year anyways,” he said.
Baker reiterated the fees have not been increased for 20 years.
“This is something that has been on the horizon for quite a while, clearly we’ve not increased these (fees) since the year 2000,” he said.
Coun. Duncan McMaster said he had no problem with the fee increases, but noted the district has long discussed integrating business licences within its bylaws and suggested parking regulations for vacation rental operators are an area of concern.
Baker said parking requirements are part of the licence inspection process currently, but McMaster was unconvinced.
“I can assure you many VR’s (vacation rentals) are not accounting for the tenants that are there and not allowing them to park on the property, so that’s why I would like to see it integrated into the business licence, so it’s a kind of heavy hand,” he said.
“You know as well as I do there’s occasionally a tenant that gets forced onto the street because the guest brings two cars, that’s fine, but there’s some tenants that park on the street all the time year-round because they’re not allowed to park (on the property).”
Coun. Cathy Thicke also raised concerns about vacation rental operators, adding that she would like council to have a more thorough conversation around ensuring anyone applying to operate a vacation rental is aware of the local rules.
“There’s a lot of things here that we seem to have a lot of difficulty with in our community,” she said, citing parking, noise and waste management as examples.
Baker responded that the district has been reviewing its local business regulations for several years and plans to introduce a new business licence regulation bylaw in 2022.
“The goal was initially to have a complete business licence regulation bylaw with amended fees, the concern was that because of the time that it takes to go through that process, meeting with council and taking into consideration all the pieces, that that might not come until early in the new year,” he said.
He added views expressed by council during their October budget meeting had suggested there was an interest in raising business licence fees “to meet inflation, but also to help with some of the costs in the bylaw department, because we have increased costs there and the licences (fees) have not gone up.”
Mayor Dan Law suggested that while a 40 per cent increase over two years looks like a lot, it might actually fall short of where the fees should be after staying stagnant for two decades.
“I just wanted to note that that 40 per cent doesn’t even actually reach parity for cost of inflation,” he said.
“Although it looks like it’s a heavy hand, it doesn’t even match the original fees in 2000 so, honestly, just looking at that, If you’re good with these numbers I’m happy to support it, but if you wanted to go a little higher even just to match inflation, I would also support that.”
andrew.bailey@westerlynews.ca
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Editor’s note: The print version of this story was published on Nov. 10 and reported that one-room vacation rental and bed and breakfasts all currently pay $225 for a business licence, which would be increased to $243 in 2022 with the 8 per cent fee increase. Those numbers are prorated, meaning anybody who applied for a business licence at that time would be charged those amounts. A full-year business licence for one-room vacation rental and bed and breakfasts costs $450, which would be increased to $486 in 2022 with the 8 per cent increase. The Westerly News apologizes for any confusion this may have caused.