Village Considers Business License Program

For all village departments to have access to the most current Libertyville business information, the License and Permits Committee is discussing instituting a business license program.

At the July 19 meeting, committee members discussed how business information, owner and contact names and numbers, are collected through fire inspections, alarm permits, water billing, and other village services. Since there is no communication between the departments’ information programs, village officials only have access to their department’s information.

“I’m not looking at this as a revenue generator,” Mayor Weppler said at the meeting. “But we need to have information available to every department and one place to go for it.”

Committee members agreed that the biggest priority is to have communication between the fire and police departments’ business information programs.

Village Administrator Kevin Bowens presented the committee with information on similar programs in bordering villages.

“We want to see what it encompasses, and what are the fees,” Bowens said. “As you can see, everybody’s all over the board. We want to make the fee nominal, just to cover the administrative costs.”

The committee also discussed possible incentives to businesses in the business license program, like including them on the village’s website.

The committee will look at software programs and will work with IT staff to identify a suitable solution.