Etowah County warns business owners about renewing licenses

ETOWAH COUNTY, Ala. (WBRC) – Etowah County leaders are cracking down on hundreds of business owners who haven’t paid their license renewal fees since October 2023.

Business licenses are due for renewal in October and run through September the following year. County officials believe they’ve been more than patient.

Etowah County Chief Administrative Officer Shane Ellison said they started working on these delinquent accounts several months ago. Notices to business owners were sent out on four different occasions.

Ellison says the county has exhausted all of their remedies and unfortunately the next step is to get the district attorney involved and take them to court.

He says according to the Etowah County Chief License Inspector, close to 700 businesses remain delinquent, which in return is taking away hundreds of thousands of dollars for county upgrades like sheriff’s department vehicles, employment for the road department, and more.

“They have to have a county business license. They think they have Rainbow City, Gadsden, Hokes Bluff, Southside, whatever. They think they have a city business license, and they honestly believe they are compliant and I can’t blame them for that. That is absolutely a misunderstanding,” said Ellison.

County officials say businesses identified as being delinquent have ten days starting Monday to renew their county license or they will end up in court and face additional fines.

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