Business owners have more time to renew their business licenses and permits to sell beer under new rules enacted by the Summit County Council this month.
Renewals must now be received by Jan. 15, 2011. The renewal forms will be mailed to business owners Dec. 27.
Renewals will not be assessed a late fee until Feb. 1, 2011, according to Summit County Clerk Kent Jones.
The 2010 licenses were extended without penalty, he explained.
“They’re not going to be delinquent until the end of January. So they’ve got the month of January when they can pay,” Jones said. “It makes it a little easier for them and us rather than trying to do it the last day of the year and through the holidays.”
The deadline “wasn’t changed because of any problems we’ve had with anyone,” Jones said.
“It’s just to try and solve some little issues that have come up,” he said.
The deadline used to be Dec. 31 for establishments in unincorporated Summit County to renew beer and business licenses. But that caused problems when money received in December needed to be deposited.
“A lot of people would pay and we can’t hold that money. So we were putting 2011 money into the 2010 deposit and that was creating a lot of problems for the independent auditors,” Jones explained. “We don’t want that money sitting around so we deposit it. So if they pay their renewal before it expires then they would be paying in December and then that just creates a problem as to when we deposit the money.”
With the change, Jones said he doesn’t expect to begin receiving renewal payments until the first week in January.
“By just changing the renewal date by two weeks, moving it to Jan. 15, we can deposit all the money where it belongs,” Jones said.