Frustration with White Rock's business-licence system is expected to ease, with council support for a bylaw amendment that's anticipated to make the process friendlier for business owners and city staff alike.
Recommended by city clerk Tracey Arthur, the amendment shifts the system to one where the licence expires on the one-year anniversary of the day it was issued.
Currently, all business licences issued throughout the year expire on April 30.
In her report, Arthur said the practice can be inconvenient for businesses that undergo the process early in the year and have to repeat it just a few months later. It is also a challenging process for the sole staffer who handles the applications, payments and issuing of the licences, she said, to have the estimated 2,000 licences expire at the same time.
"The amending bylaw will provide a user-friendly process for business owners so when they apply for a business licence they will be taking care of that element of their business for one full year," Arthur writes. "(It) also provides for a more balanced workload for staff."
Council voted unanimously at the April 14 meeting to give the amendment first, second and third reading, with Mayor Wayne Baldwin noting it "makes too much sense not to do it."