is considering a move that would repeal a nearly three-decades-old requirement for business owners to purchase, obtain, and display a borough-issued business license.The measure seeks to eliminate a governmental layer of small business ownership in the valley by repealing a borough code on general business license requirements.
“Little home businesses saying, you know, ‘By the time we buy a state license and buy a borough license, and then if we’re going to do business inside any one of the cities, you know, that’s a chunk of finances,’” DeVries said. “As we did further research into it, we really actually couldn’t come up with a reason to have one,” DeVries said.attached to the ordinance, the borough received $630,030 in revenue from business license fees in fiscal year 2023. It is estimated that one full-time employee who manages the license application process costs the borough around $94,000 in salary and benefits.
The memo states that the ordinance “does not eliminate any staff positions but rather, by eliminating the business license, internal personnel resources can be devoted to other Assembly priorities such as grant writing.”