Las Vegas Valley business licensing getting easier

Consolidating the process for contractors to obtain a business license in all jurisdictions of the Las Vegas Valley has made it easier for renewals but hasn't resulted in many new licenses, city officials said Tuesday.

Business licensing activity has been mostly normal at the city of Las Vegas, licensing manager Karen Duddlesten said.

The biggest savings to the public so far is the time and effort it takes to manage current licenses and mail out billings, she said.

Las Vegas has gone from handling 3,400 licenses to 1,800 since the
$1.5 million multijurisdictional business licensing system was launched in June, Duddlesten said.

"They could be based in Las Vegas or they could be based in Henderson. We just count them as one," she said.

Nevada legislators passed a bill in 2011 requiring Clark County and the cities of Las Vegas, Henderson and North Las Vegas to develop a multijurisdictional business license that allows contractors to get their license in one place.

Previously, contractors had to obtain a business license from each jurisdiction in which they worked. Separate renewals had to be paid each year to each entity and were often due at different times. Now they're standardized for renewal on May 1 and Nov. 1.

Contractors pay $200 a year for a license in Henderson, North Las Vegas and Clark County, and $250 in Las Vegas, or $850 for all jurisdictions.

The revamped process required a central database for each municipality to share business license data and develop a process to disburse fees to corresponding agencies.

Henderson spokeswoman Kathy Blaha said she expects to hear more feedback when renewals come due in November. Across the region, licenses will be reduced from about 13,000 to 6,000, she said.

"We're just working through the process as licenses come in," she said. "Right now what we're dealing with is brand new licenses. It really did not generate any new business."

North Las Vegas business license manager Lana Hammond said the new model decreased the volume of licenses, and that's to be expected. About 430 current contractors make North Las Vegas their primary jurisdiction, she said.

"We don't see an impact at this point," Hammond said. "We don't have a huge volume of new contractors. We have some adding jurisdictions."

If the first phase goes smoothly, other mobile businesses, such as car wash and landscaping services, may be added to multijurisdictional licensing.

"That's going to take about a year," Blaha said. "They're still working on that, looking into the feasibility of that right now. But on all accounts, it's going well. We're just working out the bugs before the deluge so we'll be ready to go on November 1st."

Duddlesten said the system seems to be working well. What she's hearing from customers, though, is they want more flexibility in how they manage their licenses.

Small contractors may perform seasonal work from March through the end of summer, and may not want to renew their licenses for the fall, she said. But they'll want to come back in March. Or they may maintain a license only for Las Vegas.

Contact reporter Hubble Smith at hsmith@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0491.