[R.O. 2009 §26-28; Code 1975 §820.010]
The term "merchant", as used in this Chapter, is hereby defined as any person who shall deal in the retail selling of any goods, wares or merchandise at any store, stand or place occupied and maintained for that purpose within the City; provided that this definition shall apply only to those businesses not otherwise designated, defined or named in this Chapter.
[1]
Cross Reference — As to definitions and rules of construction generally, §100.020.
[R.O. 2009 §26-29; Code 1975 §§820.020 — 820.030]
It shall be unlawful for any person to conduct, pursue, carry on or operate within the City any business, trade, vocation, avocation, occupation or profession mentioned in Section 605.010 without first having obtained a license to conduct such business within the City in accordance with the terms of this Chapter.
A. 
No person following for a livelihood the profession or calling of minister of the gospel, duly accredited Christian Science practitioner, teacher, professor in a college, priest, lawyer, certified public accountant, dentist, chiropractor, optometrist, chiropodist, or physician or surgeon in this City shall be taxed or made liable to pay any municipal or other corporation tax or license fee of any description whatever for the privilege of following or carrying on such profession or calling, and after December 31, 2003, no investment funds service corporation as defined in Section 143.451, RSMo., may be required to pay any such license fee in excess of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000.00) annually, any law, ordinance or Charter to the contrary notwithstanding.
B. 
No person following for a livelihood the profession of insurance agent or broker, veterinarian, architect, professional engineer, land surveyor, auctioneer, or real estate broker or salesman in this City shall be taxed or made liable to pay any municipal or other corporation tax or license fee for the privilege of following or carrying on his/her profession unless that person maintains a business office within the City of Festus.
[R.O. 2009 §26-30; Code 1975 §820.040]
No person shall conduct, pursue, carry-on or operate within the City any trade, profession, calling, business, vocation or occupation without paying in advance the license tax prescribed and levied by this Chapter.
[R.O. 2009 §26-31; Code 1975 §820.070]
A. 
No license or permit provided for or required under any provision of this Code or other ordinance of the City shall be issued by the City to any person until the City's personal tax and merchant's tax for the year next preceding the year for which such license is issued shall first have been paid. It shall be the duty of the City Clerk to establish and promulgate rules and regulations relative to an orderly method of checking unpaid personal taxes and merchant's taxes in order to determine the amounts thereof due and owing the City by any such applicant.
B. 
Each applicant for a business license under this Chapter shall submit a statement from the Missouri Department of Revenue pursuant to Section 144.083.4, RSMo., stating no tax is due, which statement is a prerequisite to the issuance or renewal of a City business license. The statement required by this Section shall be dated within ninety (90) days of submission of the business license application or renewal application.
[R.O. 2009 §26-32; Code 1975 §820.100]
All licenses issued by the City shall run in the name of the City, be signed by the Mayor, be attested by the City Clerk and shall bear the Seal of the City. The form of such license shall designate to whom issued, for what purpose, the business, trade, vocation or avocation for which issued, the period of time for which issued and the amount paid.
[R.O. 2009 §26-33; Code 1975 §820.080; Ord. No. 2192 §1, 6-12-1991; Ord. No. 2645 §I, 6-12-1996; Ord. No. 2927 §I, 11-22-1999]
A. 
All licenses granted under the provisions of this Chapter, with the exception of excavators, plumbers, tree trimmers and all other contractors, shall commence on the first (1st) day of July in each and every year and shall expire on the thirtieth (30th) day of June of the year following date of issuance. The amount collected for any license between July first (1st) and December thirty-first (31st) shall be a full year's license fee. The amount collected between January first (1st) through June thirtieth (30th) shall be one-half (½) the license fee.
B. 
All licenses granted under this Chapter for excavators, plumbers, tree trimmers and all other contractors shall commence on January first (1st) in each and every year and shall expire on the thirty-first (31st) day of December of the year following the date of issuance.
C. 
The City Clerk is hereby authorized to issue license under Subsection (B) of this Section for a period not to exceed twelve (12) months beginning January first (1st). The amount to be collected for the period of January first (1st) to September thirtieth (30th) shall be a full year's license fee. The amount collected from October first (1st) to December thirty-first (31st) shall be one-half (½) of the full years license fee.
[R.O. 2009 §26-34; Code 1975 §820.060]
It shall be the duty of the City Clerk to collect all monies for licenses issued under the provisions of this Chapter and he/she shall keep a complete and accurate account and list of all such licenses issued by him/her so that at any time such list will clearly show what licenses have been issued, for what purpose issued, the period of time for which issued and the amount paid.
[R.O. 2009 §26-35; Code 1975 §820.090]
No license granted under the provisions of this Chapter shall be assigned or transferred and no refund shall be made on any license on account of the person to whom such license is issued discontinuing or retiring from the business for which the license was issued.
[R.O. 2009 §26-36; Code 1975 §820.050]
Every person to whom a license is issued under the provisions of this Chapter shall keep the same conspicuously posted and displayed at the place of business for which such license is issued.
[R.O. 2009 §26-37; Code 1975 §§820.110, 820.140; Ord. No. 3269 §1, 5-14-2003]
A. 
Every person doing business as adult oriented business, retail grocers, grocery stores, bakeries for retail, merchants, drugstores, confectioners, cigar and tobacco stores, tailoring shops, tailors, shoe repair shops, shoe cobblers, wood dealers, coal dealers, flour mills, grain mills, lumber dealers, retail florists, restaurants, lunchrooms, soft drink shops, soft drink stands, ice cream parlors, ice cream stands and drive-in eating establishments shall pay a license tax based on a schedule and predicated on gross annual receipts from such business as set forth in Subsection (B).
B. 
There is hereby levied and shall be collected upon and against every person defined and designated in Subsection (A) for the privilege of doing business at any store, stand or place occupied for that purpose within the City an annual license tax as of and on the first (1st) day of July of each year in amount and form as follows:
On every one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) of gross revenue or major portion thereof, the sum of fifty cents ($0.50) per one thousand dollars ($1,000.00).
Provided that the minimum amount hereunder shall be a license tax of twenty-five dollars ($25.00) and not any maximum.
[R.O. 2009 §26-38; Code 1975 §820.120]
Every person doing business under this Chapter shall keep proper books and enter in ink an account of all sales made by him/her or it, which books and records shall, at any time during regular business hours, be open to the inspection and audit of the City Clerk or his/her duly authorized agent or representative for the purpose of making an audit or inspection, if and in the event the City Clerk believes or has cause to believe that any such business has made any false return or report respecting the amount of its sales for any period as reflected by any estimate of declaration filed with him/her by any such business.
[R.O. 2009 §26-39; Code 1975 §820.130]
Any information, knowledge or dates obtained from any inspection or audit of the books of any business as authorized by Section 605.110 shall not be disclosed by the City Clerk or his/her authorized representatives or agents; provided however, that nothing contained herein shall prohibit the City Clerk or his/her duly authorized representatives or agents or either of them, in any proceedings brought to collect any license tax due or to prosecute any person or persons for the making of any false affidavit, from giving evidence in any court of competent jurisdiction in any proceeding brought either to collect a license tax or to prosecute any such person or persons for the making of a false or fraudulent report or return.
[R.O. 2009 §26-40; Code 1975 §820.150]
Every person coming under the provisions of this Chapter at the time of making application for his/her license shall make and file a written declaration under oath on a form for that purpose, furnished by the City Clerk, setting forth the gross volume, for the purpose of determining the annual tax, as set forth in Section 605.070, his/her or its business did actually experience for the immediate next preceding twelve (12) month period and shall pay to the City Clerk the respective amount of license for that bracket and take the Clerk's receipt therefor. If a business is just commencing, the person making application shall make and file a written declaration and estimate under oath on a form furnished by the City Clerk setting forth an estimate of the anticipated gross volume of business for the ensuing year and shall pay to the City Clerk the respective amount of license tax and take the City 's receipt therefor. At the end of the twelve (12) month period estimated, the City will adjust the license tax and refund any excess license tax so paid and such business shall adjust so as to pay for any deficiency. Thereafter, such new business shall proceed as provided in this Section.
[R.O. 2009 §26-41; Code 1975 §820.160]
All oaths provided for and prescribed by the terms of this Chapter shall be made before a notary public or other officer authorized to administer oaths by the laws of this State.
[R.O. 2009 §26-69; Code 1975 §§830.010, 850.010, 850.130, 850.200, 850.440, 850.500, 850.700 — 850.800, 850.950; Ord. No. 2648 §I, 6-26-1996; Ord. No. 2673 §1, 9-11-1996; Ord. No. 3269 §2, 5-14-2003]
Any person who is engaged in any of the following businesses, trades, occupations, professions or avocations in the City shall pay to the City an annual license tax in the amounts specified below:
Businesses, etc.
License Tax
Abstract agencies
$25.00
Abstractors
$25.00
Adult oriented business
$100.00
Advertising companies, outdoors
$50.00
Amusement parks
$100.00
Architects
$50.00
Artists
$25.00
Auction houses
$50.00
Auto accessory dealers
$50.00
Automatic cleaning shops
$50.00
Automobile, new sales companies
$100.00
Automobile, used sales companies
$100.00
Auto wrecking shops
$50.00
Banks
$200.00
Barbers, barbershops, hairdressers, beauty shops, beauty operators and cosmetology schools:
First (1st) chair
$10.00
Each additional chair
$5.00
By the term "chair" is meant any chair or chair-like device customarily used for the administration of tonsorial or cosmetological treatment, but such term shall not include hair dryers.
Baseball parks, commercial
$50.00
Bathhouses
$25.00
Billposters
$25.00
Blacksmith shops
$25.00
Boarding houses
$25.00
Bookbinders
$25.00
Bottling works
$50.00
Bowling alleys, per alley
$10.00
Brick contractors
$50.00
Bridge contractors
$50.00
Brokers
$100.00
Building contractors
$50.00
Bulk oil and gasoline companies
$50.00
Bus companies
$50.00
Butchers, wholesale
$100.00
Car washes
$50.00
Carpenter contractors
$50.00
Cement contractors
$50.00
Chiropodists
$25.00
Cleaning or pressing establishments, or both
$50.00
Coffee and tea, foreign dealers
$25.00
Coin-operated gaming devices, per machine
$5.00
Collection agents
$25.00
Corn doctors
$25.00
Discount houses
$200.00
Dye works
$50.00
Electrical contractors
$50.00
Employment agents
$50.00
Employment offices
$50.00
Excavators or dirt movers (or both)
$25.00
Express salvage stores
$100.00
Feather renovators
$50.00
Fish ponds
$25.00
Foundries
$100.00
Gasoline and oil stations, retail
$50.00
Golf courses
$100.00
Health schools
$50.00
Horse and cattle dealers
$25.00
Hotels
$50.00
Ice plants
$25.00
Inspectors
$25.00
Installment houses
$200.00
Insulating contractors
$50.00
Insurance agents, agencies and sales office
$50.00
Insurance brokers, licensed by the State
$50.00
Intelligence offices
$50.00
Job printing shops
$50.00
Junk dealers
$100.00
Laundries or cleaners, or both
$50.00
Laundromats
$50.00
Laundry agents
$50.00
Loan agents
$100.00
Loan brokers
$200.00
Loan companies (not building and loan companies)
$200.00
Machine shops
$25.00
Mail order retail stores
$100.00
Manufacturer agents
$100.00
Manufacturers
$100.00
Meat packers, wholesale
$100.00
Menageries
$150.00
Mercantile agents
$25.00
Miniature golf courses
$50.00
Mobile home parks
$25.00
Money brokers
$200.00
Money changers
$200.00
Monument dealers
$25.00
Motels
$50.00
Motion picture shows
$50.00
Muscle developers
$50.00
Museums
$100.00
Newspaper offices and job printing offices
$100.00
Nursery stock agents
$25.00
Office buildings (used solely for office space)
$50.00
Opera houses
$50.00
Opticians
$25.00
Painting contractors
$50.00
Paper hanger contractors
$50.00
Pawnbrokers
$50.00
Photographs, on the street and itinerant
$100.00
Photographers with permanent stands or office in City
$50.00
Piano and organ dealer agents
$25.00
Pistol galleries
$50.00
Plastering contractors
$50.00
Plumbing contractors
$50.00
Pool and billiard rooms, per table
$10.00
Private parks
$50.00
Produce and poultry dealers
$25.00
Public grounds
$50.00
Railroad salvage stores
$100.00
Rating companies
$200.00
Ready-to-wear clothing agents
$10.00
Real estate agents
$50.00
Roller skating rinks
$50.00
Rooming houses
$25.00
Sand plants
$50.00
Scale houses
$25.00
Scrap dealers (or junk dealers)
$100.00
Secondary raw material dealer
$100.00
Sewer contractors
$50.00
Sewing machine agents
$25.00
Shoe shine parlors
$25.00
Shooting galleries
$50.00
Shooting ranges, outdoors
$100.00
Sidewalk contractors
$50.00
Steam fitters
$25.00
Stockyards
$25.00
Stone contractors
$50.00
Storage warehouses for hire
$100.00
Street contractors
$50.00
Swimming pools
$50.00
Tailor made clothing agents
$25.00
Taxicabs
$50.00
Television, sales and service
$25.00
Ten pin alleys, per alley
$10.00
Tinners
$25.00
Tree trimmers and tree surgeons (or both)
$25.00
Undertakers
$50.00
Wholesale houses
$100.00
[1]
State Law References — License taxes generally, §§94.110 et seq., RSMo.
[R.O. 2009 §26-69.1; Ord. No. 2385 §1, 8-11-1993]
No license required under the provisions of this Section shall be issued by the City Clerk to any person until such person produces a copy of a certificate of insurance for Workers' Compensation coverage if the applicant for the license is required to cover his/her liability under Chapter 287, RSMo. It is further made a violation of this Section to provide fraudulent information to the department.
[R.O. 2009 §26-70; Code 1975 §840.010; Ord. No. 3026 §I, 1-24-2001]
Any person engaged in any of the following businesses, trades, occupations, professions or avocations in the City shall pay to the City a per diem license tax in the amounts indicated below:
Business, etc.
License Tax
Athletic exhibitions, commercial
$50.00
Auctioneers
$25.00
Balls or dances, commercial
$100.00
Circuses, commercial
$100.00
Concerts, commercial
$50.00
Drummers
$5.00
Equestrian exhibitions, commercial
$100.00
Lung testers
$100.00
Parades, commercial
$50.00
Side shows, commercial
$100.00
Street exhibitions
$100.00
Street fairs, commercial
$100.00
Theatrical exhibitions, commercial
$50.00
[R.O. 2009 §26-74; Ord. No. 1824 §1, 9-26-1984; Ord. No. 3914 §I, 3-24-2010]
A. 
Delay In Payment. All license fees provided for in this Chapter shall be deemed delinquent if not paid by July first (1st) of the license year, and any person so delinquent shall pay to the City Clerk an additional ten percent (10%) of the amount due for the first (1st) thirty (30) days of such delinquency, an additional twenty percent (20%) of the amount due for the next thirty (30) to sixty (60) days of such delinquency and an additional thirty percent (30%) of the amount due for the next sixty (60) to ninety (90) days of such delinquency. At ninety (90) days delinquency the account will be turned over to the Municipal Judge for setting of penalty amount and charging of an ordinance violation against business owner.
B. 
False Statements Causing Reduction In Payment. Any person who makes a false statement which causes a reduction in any license fee shall be required to pay to the City Clerk the additional amount due, plus a penalty of twenty-five (25%) percent of such additional amount, plus one percent (1%) interest per month or fraction thereof on such additional amount from the date originally due, in addition to any other penalties prescribed in this Chapter.
C. 
Non-Compliance Or Violation. Any person who fails to comply with or violates any provision of this Section shall be guilty upon conviction thereof of an ordinance violation. Each day such failure to comply or such violation continues shall be deemed a separate offense. Any fine assessed for such an offense shall be in addition to any other penalties assessed for delinquency or false statements causing a reduction in payment.
D. 
Revocation. Except where State Statutes require immediate revocation, failure to comply with or violation of any provision of this Chapter by any licensee, the City Council shall call and have a full and adequate hearing upon the matter, giving the affected party at least fifteen (15) days' written notice of the hearing. Any party may be represented by counsel and all parties shall have the opportunity to be heard. After the hearing, if the evidence supports a finding that the licensee has failed to comply with or violated any provisions of this Chapter, the City Council shall issue an order to revoke or suspend said license. If the evidence does not support a finding that non-compliance or violations have occurred, no order shall be issued. Such revocation or suspension shall be in addition to any other penalties prescribed in this Chapter. Any party aggrieved by an order of the City Council hereunder may appeal said order to the Circuit Court as provided under Chapter 536, RSMo.
E. 
Locking Of Doors. Except where State Statutes require immediate revocation by the City for failure to comply with the provisions of this Chapter, within thirty (30) days of being found guilty of non-compliance with or violations of the provisions of this Chapter shall be cause for the doors of said business to be locked. Upon notice from the City Clerk of license revocation or failure to comply with the provisions of this Chapter within thirty (30) days of being found guilty of non-compliance with or violations of the provisions of this Chapter, the Chief of Police shall lock or chain the doors of said business so as to prevent or bar the continuance of business activity.