Village amends business-license ordinance; trustees clarify change applies to commercial, brick-and‑mortar businesses

The Village Board voted to amend its business license fee ordinance (code section 114-11) and then reconsidered the motion to clarify that the fee changes apply to commercial (brick‑and‑mortar) businesses only.

Trustees discussed approaches to business-license fees, including basing fees on square footage or employee counts. Trustee Reinders and Trustee Mason said fees had not been raised since 2004 and supported modest increases; the board settled on a compromise fee (the motion discussed a $75 fee and a $75 late fee as a compromise from an earlier $100 proposal). Trustee Lepore asked staff to add an estimated square-footage field to the 2026 application so the board can review alternative fee structures next year.

Because the motion language in the meeting materials indicated the fee change applied to commercial businesses but the motion itself did not specifically say so, trustees later moved to reconsider and explicitly adopted amended language specifying the change covers commercial brick‑and‑mortar licenses only. The board also directed staff to evaluate square‑footage or employee-based options for future consideration.

Ending: Staff will update the business-license application to add an estimated square footage field for 2026 and publish the clarification that the fee increase applies to commercial businesses only.