Milwaukie staff outline business registration code update; council backs scaling and business supports

City staff presented proposed updates to Milwaukie's business registration code and sought council direction on priorities such as revenue preservation, equitable fee reduction and reinvesting funds for business support.

Sierra Fox, the city’s economic development coordinator, said the current code functions as a "business tax" and that peer research shows Milwaukie's base fee ($185) is the highest among compared cities. Fox described options to scale fees by employee count, income, business type, or some combination, and noted common exemptions in peer codes such as low employee counts or small rental holdings.

"Milwaukie currently has the highest base fee in the metro area. It is a $185 base fee," Fox said during the presentation.

Staff outlined enforcement and renewal practice: the registration has posed enforcement challenges and the city prefers a compliance-focused approach (reminders, then citations for long noncompliance). Staff reported sending roughly 1,700 renewal notices this cycle and receiving about 1,300 renewals to date.

Councilors discussed policy trade-offs. Several favored scaling to relieve the burden on very small or home-based businesses while maintaining—or modestly increasing—overall revenue. Councilors proposed pairing scaled fees with visible reinvestment such as a small business support or "rainy day" fund to help businesses through temporary downturns; one councilor suggested allowing installment payments.

Staff said the business registration program yields roughly $350,000–$385,000 annually for the general fund; staff proposed planning for a June 2026 adoption of code changes and asked which outcomes the council prioritized: maintain revenue, reduce costs equitably, broadly lower costs, or increase value by diverting funds to business supports.

No formal vote was taken; staff will return with draft code language and proposed fee scales informed by peer comparisons and council guidance.

The council asked staff to clarify key ambiguities in the application (for example, FTE counting rules and whether employees counted are those working in Milwaukie) and to model administrative impacts of any new fee structure.