BUSINESS LICENSE REQUIRED.
NON-PENALTY PERIOD ENDED OCTOBER 1
By Robert C. Solera, Assistant Administrator Building and CE & L Department


Florida State statute 205 grants our City the right to levy a tax on the privilege of engaging in business within our City limits. On October 1, 2004, the non penalty period for renewal of the 2003-2004 licenses ended. Engaging in business within our City is a privilege. Unlicensed businesses are in violation of a number of laws and are thereby subject to enforcement action as necessary to bring said businesses into compliance with the law.

Section 205.053 of State statute 205 states:

“(1) All Licenses shall be sold by the appropriate tax collector beginning August 1st of each year, are due and payable on or before September 30th of each year, and expire on September 30th of the succeeding year.”…

…“Licenses that are not renewed when due are delinquent and subject to a delinquency penalty…”

“(3) Any person who engages in any business, occupation, or profession covered by this chapter, who does not pay the required Occupational License tax within 150 days after the initial notice of tax due, and who does not obtain the required Occupational License tax is subject to civil actions and penalties, including, court costs, reasonable attorneys’ fees, additional administrative costs incurred as a result of collection efforts, and a penalty of up to $250.00.”

All existing businesses were mailed a courtesy renewal notice on or around August 15th, 2004.

The City of Sunny Isles Beach adopted Ordinance 98-45 pursuant to Section 205 and established a license fee for all business and adopted Ordinance 2000-103 establishing fees for the required certificate of use, and penalties for non-renewal of such certificate of use. All licenses and accompanying certificate of use that failed to be renewed by October 1st will be subject to the following penalty:

The Occupational Licensing process is implemented in an attempt to guide new owners through the process of opening a new business, in order to assure that said owners have all the required documeents are not met.

On the other hand the accompanied certificate of use process, is implemented to assure that all business types have zoning approval for the type of business that they would like to engage in, based on the Land Development Regulations and the location.

ntation, certification, and/or registrations to operate legally. This may include but not be limited to obtaining any Federal, State, County, and/or City permits, licensing, certifications, or registrations. In fact both the State and City laws specifically prohibit this Division from issuing an Occupational License if the above reference requirem

OCCUPATIONAL LICENSE
INFORMATION CORNER

• No Person, either directly or indirectly, shall, within the City limits, engage in or manage any business in the City for which a License is required without first obtaining the required License and the required Certificate of Use.
• Section 8A-172 of the City Code of Ordinances, as adopted, establishes the act of conducting any business without the required Occupational License as a misdemeanor.
• This Division can go through the process of denying the License renewal or revoking an existing License in accordance with Sections 13 of the City Occupational License Ordinance numbers 99-60.

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