Code Enforcement and You
The Local Business Tax Section at a Glance
By Robert C. Solera, Community Development Director

Mission

The Local Business Tax Section of the Community Development Department provides information to our business community, while maintaining a community service oriented approach.

Our goal is to educate and assist our present and future business owners to acquire the necessary knowledge of our City Ordinances, and all State of Florida regulations, to safely operate a business. We are committed to the delivery of quality service to our community. As a whole our mission statement is as follows:

“The Community Development Department is dedicated to the education and assistance of our citizens through the effective application of modern Code Enforcement programs, Local Business Tax requirements, Certificate of Use requirements, Parking Enforcement requirements; applied to protect the community’s health, safety and welfare so that, in cooperation, we may improve the quality of life within our City.”

 The Local Business Tax Section

• “Business means and includes all vocations, occupations, professions, enterprises, establishments, and all activities and matters, together with all devices, machines, vehicles and appurtenances used therein, any of which are conducted for private profit or benefit, either directly or indirectly, on or from any premises in the City; “Business” does not include the customary activities of religious, charitable, non-profit service clubs and organizations, or educational non-profit institutions as those terms are defined in Chapter 205, F.S...”

Other individuals and/or entities that are exempt from paying a local business tax include: veterans and their un-remarried spouses, certain disabled persons, persons 65 years old or older with not more than one employee and who use not more than $1,000.00 in their own capital, and widows with dependent children.

We are also limited to taxing only those businesses that have a permanent business location or a branch office within the City Limits.

Purpose :

A local business tax is not imposed as a regulatory fee. We are required by state statute to verify that the applicant is in compliance with all state regulations and have paid the applicable regulatory fee(s) from the involved state agencies. For instance, the Department of Business and Professional Regulation imposes a regulatory fee due for restaurant licenses; this fee covers the cost of administering and enforcing the subject law(s) (Food service certification, cleanliness, capacity, etc).

We are specifically prohibited by, State law and City Ordinance from issuing a local business tax receipt to anyone that does not have the required state license, registration, and/or certification, including any required fictitious name registration. In this context, we are an agent of the state (via the right of taxation) that must verify state licensing, registration, and/or certification requirements; thereby supporting the states regulatory acts.

Authority to Regulate:

The City’s regulatory authority comes from State Statute 162. Statute 162 gives code enforcement officer’s authority to enforce against violations of our City Code(s), by levying fines or seeking injunctive action in an appropriate court of jurisdiction. Therefore, we apply our regulatory authority through enforcement of:

• Code Section 8A-171 of our code of ordinances for “Failure to obtain required City of Sunny Isles Beach Local Business Tax Receipt”.

Organization

Meet your Local Business Tax Section personnel: (L-R) Helena Forbes, Assistant Community Development Director, Claudia Hasbun, Administrative Coordinator, Yelena Vinokur, Local Business Tax Clerk, Frank English, Licensing Inspector.

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