All Ketchum businesses are required—by a 2007 city ordinance—to obtain a business license, but a number of companies are operating without one.
How many is uncertain, according to Ketchum Planning Technician Lisa Enourato, who said that tabulating the number of violators would require going door to door because a list of all Ketchum businesses doesn't exist.
Enourato told the City Council on Monday that 645 businesses are licensed in 20 categories. Retail—the greatest sector at 21 percent—accounts for 140 of those. Half of all licensed businesses are within the downtown area. Enourato said this kind of statistical information is important for building a database describing the makeup of the city. The database could help in understanding the city's economy.
A pertinent example is the controversy over the proposed Ketchum Market, and the argument that allowing retail in the Light Industrial zone would drive out the industrial businesses there. A business-license database would allow the city to show how much empty business space is in the industrial core and which businesses are currently operating there.
But the database must be complete to do so.
The question is: Would stepping up enforcement of business licensing be worth the work?
Enourato said she's not sure she has the manpower to look at every business in town and see which are unlicensed. It's up to the City Council and mayor to decide if it's worth pursuing.
Mayor Randy Hall advocated patience and said noncompliance should be less of a problem when the economy recovers.
Right now, businesses are strapped.
Enourato said some of the businesses already licensed are complaining about the $50 annual fee. But, Ketchum Office Assistant Kathleen Schwartzenberger said, being licensed is a plus for businesses. She said that in the past two weeks, 20 businesses have applied for licenses because it will help them get a loan.
Trevon Milliard: tmilliard@mtexpress.com
