Milpitas to give companies additional time to pay costs

MILPITAS — In an energy to supply some relief to community enterprises through the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the Milpitas City Council will increase the deadlines for business enterprise linked fees by many months, and will waive all late penalties from corporations for that time.

In a unanimous vote Tuesday, the council directed metropolis staff members to draft an ordinance and a resolution that would allow businesses in Milpitas to keep off right up until as late as Could 31 on shelling out their business enterprise license fees, fire allow charges, and other charges that occur alongside with an annual company license renewal.

Any late payment penalties for people service fees that have been accrued so far will be waived, and city employees will not issue any further late penalty notices right up until immediately after Could 31, metropolis team reported.

“I consider it is significant for us to do whatsoever we can to assist assist our small corporations neighborhood, and that’s starting off in dwelling initial,” Councilwoman Karina Dominguez said at the assembly.

“I’m in enormous assist of this,” Mayor Abundant Tran claimed.

Approximately 3,300 invoices for enterprise license tax and associated costs ended up issued this year, town personnel reports reported, with an typical charge of about $116. About 1,000 enterprises also desired to shell out hearth permit fees, bringing their whole average costs to about $753, team reports stated.

While these license and permit expenses are normally because of at the commencing of the 12 months, Walter Rossmann, the city’s finance director, explained in an job interview Thursday that as of Jan. 31, about 57 % of the corporations that owe enterprise license tax and fees had not paid out, and about 40 percent of the corporations that also need to shell out a fire permit charge have been not paid.

Town council and team agreed that allowing corporations to defer expenses of up to many hundred dollars could be a boon for regional proprietors, and it would be an unfair load to strike them with late service fees.

“I really do not feel presented where by we are in the overall economy, the place we are in the fiscal predicament for our businesses, I really don’t believe it’s proper to demand them late service fees,” Rossmann said.

“How several enterprises did not even utilize for a 2021 permit, it’s possible due to the fact they went out of company,” Tran famous at the conference, underscoring the affect of the coronavirus pandemic.

The council also briefly regarded generating a h2o bill guidance application for firms, equivalent to just one it presently runs for household clients in decreased revenue homes, but ultimately held off, noting there were not a lot of firms who were being delinquent on their drinking water payments, so the impact would be minimal.

The council will want to approve the new ordinance and resolution at upcoming council conferences to finalize the rate deferments and penalties waiver, which may possibly not officially go into impact right up until about April.

Rossmann reiterated, however, that with the course from council, staff will not issue any late charges to firms in the meantime.