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TO: |
Mayor and Members of Council |
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FROM: |
Sheila Birrell, Town Clerk |
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PREPARED BY: |
W. Wiles, Manager, By-Law Enforcement & Licencing |
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DATE OF MEETING: |
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SUBJECT: |
A New By-Law to Regulate Special Sales within the Town of |
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RECOMMENDATION:
That a new by-law be enacted to regulate Special Sales within the Town
of
And that By-Law 2002-284 (A By-Law to Establish Licence Fees for the
Town of Markham) be amended to include fees for the review, issuance, and
inspection/ enforcement of Special Sale licences;
And that the existing By-Law 2001-38 (A By-Law to License and Regulate Special
Sales and Persons Conducting Special Sales) and By-Law 2001-39 (A By-Law to
provide for the licensing of Transient Traders) each be repealed.
PURPOSE:
To enact a municipal licencing by-law requiring that a business licence
be obtained prior to the holding of “Special Sales”; to amend the Licence Fee
By-Law to incorporate a fee for the administration and enforcement of the new
licencing by-law; and, to repeal two existing by-laws that are no longer
required as a result of changes in provincial legislation.
BACKGROUND:
Existing By-Laws
The Town currently has two by-laws that provide specific regulations governing
business activities within the Town. The Special Sales By-Law was created prior to
the current requirement for fees to cover costs and is no longer applicable.
The Transient Traders By-Law was established at the same time business taxes
were collected and the charge for this licence was applied to the first year’s
business taxes and is no longer necessary. This by-law needs to be repealed.
BACKGROUND (cont’d):
Public Meeting- June 2004
The current Municipal Act, 2001 requires that a public
meeting be held prior to the passing or amendment of Licencing By-Laws. The
required public meeting was held in June, 2004. At the meeting, representatives
of a local business made a presentation regarding the calculation of licencing
fees under the current by-law. The representative advised that the current
method, based on the value of the inventory to be sold was unreasonable as the
company’s inventory was always a significant amount. This resulted in a
significantly higher fee than most fees assessed under the by-law, yet the
costs and services in administering and enforcing by the municipality were the
same.
OPTIONS/DISCUSSION:
Special Sales
Special sales are sales that occur within the Town from premises and
locations not normally used or intended to be used for retail sales. These
sales are generally held in industrial areas of the Town from factories or
warehouses and are often held annually to sell off or reduce the inventory of
the business. The sales are also held at commercial locations such as hotels,
banquet halls etc. in order to provide convenient location and access to the
public.
Current Special
The current Special Sale By-Law requires licencing for a number of sales
that the municipality is not longer entitled to licence under the Municipal Act, 2001. Examples of sales
requiring licencing under current regulations (not enforced or licenced)
include “lease expiring” and “liquidation” sales. These sales are routinely
held at commercially zoned and designed locations; in buildings zoned to permit
retail sales and present no health & safety and nuisance control issues. As
discussed previously, the calculation of licencing fees under the by-law no
longer complies with the Act.
Licence Fee
The Municipal Act,
2001, provides the authority to licence the Special Sales. The municipality
is entitled to recover the costs related directly to the administration and the
enforcement of the by-law. As noted in “Public Meeting- June 2004” section of
this report, fees under the existing by-law are based on the inventory being
sold. This method does not meet the requirements of the Act as the municipalities costs are similar for each licence issued
regardless of cost. The new by-law is to contain a unit cost, reflective of
actual costs being incurred with each licence.
The costs for the above are anticipated to be $500.00
per licence. In addition, a secondary fee of $250.00 will be included where the
applicant proposes to or subsequently applies to conduct the sale on following
weekends.
FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS:
Enacting of the new by-law with the proposed fees will offset the fees
previously collected under the repealed by-laws
ACCESSIBILITY CONSIDERATIONS:
None
ENGAGE 21ST CONSIDERATIONS:
None
BUSINESS UNITS CONSULTED AND AFFECTED:
Legal
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Sheila
Birrell, Town
Clerk. |
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Andy
Taylor, Commissioner
of Corporate Services |
