Surprise City Council Work Session on Business Licensing and Economic Development - September 2, 2025
Surprise City Council Work Session on Business Licensing and Economic Development - September 2, 2025
The Surprise City Council held a work session on September 2, 2025, to discuss two major topics: the city's business licensing process and fees, and the economic development strategic plan. The meeting began with a presentation on business licensing, followed by a discussion on potential fee reductions for small businesses, and then a presentation on the economic development department's strategic goals and initiatives. No formal votes were taken, but council directed staff to research options for reducing business license fees for startups.
Discussion Items
- Business Licensing Process and Fees: Staff presented an overview of the business licensing process, including the purpose (ensuring safe, compliant, and responsible business operations), standard review timeframes (15-20 days), and the roles of various departments (finance, community development, fire, police). The current initial fee is $168, with an annual renewal of $84. Staff noted that the fee does not recoup costs, with an estimated subsidy of 10-30%. Council discussed reducing the initial fee to $84 for first-time businesses, noting that the revenue impact would be approximately $25,000-$30,000 based on an estimated 100-200 new startups per year out of 5,500 active businesses. Council members also suggested a sliding scale based on business size or a rebate program for small businesses, with a definition of small business to be determined. Staff will conduct research and return with options.
- Economic Development Strategic Plan: Janine, the economic development director, presented the department's strategic plan, which aligns with the council's strategic goals. Key initiatives include Spark Surprise (a business incubator launching early 2025), Elm Street master plan, tech park, digital twin, and workforce development programs. Challenges identified include infrastructure limitations, energy constraints, labor mismatch, and diminishing real estate sites (retail vacancy rate under 2%). Opportunities include a growing demographic, business-friendly reputation, and strong regional partnerships. Council members praised the department's creativity and forward-thinking approach, citing the award-winning April Fool's video for Whole Foods. The department conducts 40-50 business visits per month and hosts free job fairs and a community jobs board.
Key Outcomes
- Council directed staff to research and return with specific options for reducing business license fees for small businesses, including a definition of small business, possible rebate programs, or sliding scale fees. The research should be completed before the next renewal cycle (January 1, 2026) to allow fee updates in the renewal forms.
- No formal votes were taken; the session was informational and provided direction for staff. Council expressed strong support for small business incentives and continued economic development efforts.
Meeting Transcript
All right, good evening. I'd like to call this work session on September 2nd, 2025 to order. Madam Clerk, if you could conduct the roll call. Mayor Sarder. Present. Vice Mayor Hastings. Councilmember Haney. Here. Councilmember Greenberg. Here. Councilmember Duffy. Here. Councilmember Melton. Present. Councilmember Judd. Here. Thank you, Mayor. We have a quorum. Thank you. Please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance. Indivisible delivery and justice for all. Madam Clerk, please read. Um the microphones sound really weird. Exactly. It's echoe in here. I don't know if it's echoing. The gentleman in the control room can fix that, but it's really really weird. Um guy behind the curtain. Okay. Yeah, the guy behind the curtain. But we'll continue. Please read item number one. Item number one, presentation and discussion pertaining to the city's business licensing process and fees. Good afternoon, Mayor, Council. So Mindy and I are here uh to discuss business licensing. And you may wonder why community development is participating in a presentation about business licensing, but hopefully our presentation will help answer that for you. So a couple of weeks ago, um, it was asked of staff to come back and discuss um before council the business licensing process, the fees associated with it, and why we have business licenses. So we'll start with the purpose of licensing. And the purpose of a business license is to ensure safe, compliant, and responsible business operations. So we're really trying to find that balance between the safe operations and protecting our residents when we're issuing a business license. There are several departments that take a look at the business licenses when they come into the city. Um public safety is very heavily involved. Their role is to ensure that businesses are operating in conformance with the city's codes, public safety, health, and welfare. This is how businesses become known to our economic development team. So through the business licensing process is where there's a mechanism to connect new businesses to our economic development team for things such as uh the ribbon cuttings and the grand openings that that ED often helps put on. And then last but not least, there's a tax compliance component to the purpose of licensing. It aids in identifying taxpayers for the TPTs. Standard business license timeframes. We typically receive and issue licenses within about 15 to 20 days. Days zero through five is where our finance team, spearheaded by Mati Lugo sitting behind me, is looking at administrative completeness.
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