Medicine Hat proposes lower business licence and development fees for 2027

Medicine Hat plans to lower most of its business licence and planning fees in 2027, including dropping the $50 licence fee for non-profit groups to zero, the city's Development and Infrastructure Committee heard Thursday.

Robert Sissons, the city's manager of planning, said administration reviewed every departmental fee as part of the two-year budget and heard from applicants and the development industry asking for targeted reductions. "There was only two fees that actually slightly increased," Sissons said. "Everything else either has remained the same or has decreased."

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Under the revised business licence structure, which council directed in August, the Tier 1 licence for non-profits drops from $50 to zero. The Tier 2 licence for a typical city business falls from $225 to $180, and Tier 3, for businesses that need more staff involvement or work with provincial agencies, falls from $450 to $380. Tier 4, previously $900, is eliminated and those businesses move into Tier 3. The Tier 5 licence for adult entertainment drops from $2,750 to $2,500.

On the development side, a development permit for a detached house falls from $375 to $300 and a single-lot commercial subdivision from $3,050 to $2,500. A minor home business licence goes from $150 to $100, and the commercial building permit fee falls from $1,195 to $1,140 per $1,000 of construction value.

The property compliance certificate drops from $325 to $150. "We heard directly from industry that the price was starting to impact the ability of them to perform the service," Sissons said. "So we want to have people's properties surveyed and not just go with title insurance, because that does create other issues."

Coun. Dan Reynish said some businesses had complained last time that the fees seemed to be made up, and asked how these were set. Sissons said the new tiers are based on how much staff work each type of licence takes, and that a broader review of the city's fee philosophy will continue through 2027. "We were just trying to hold the line," he said, citing builders' reports of rising material and labour costs.

Sissons said licence fees rarely decide whether a business opens. "It's typically not these types of fees that are, you know, a go/no-go decision for a business to open or to expand," he said. He noted the $300 development permit is a fraction of a percent of a new home that now typically costs more than $700,000 to build.

Committee chair Coun. Yusuf Mohammed asked that the fee review also consider whether permit costs discourage residents from getting permits for small projects such as a backyard shed. Sissons said he had heard the same from developers: "Don't punish me because I'm trying to comply with the rules and go through the processes, right?"

Pat Bohan, the city's managing director of development and infrastructure, said the fee resolution and related bylaw changes, including encroachment and subdivision fees, will go to council on Nov. 17.