CASEY CAMPBELL | Gazette-Times Real estate agent Gary Rodgers meets with Bill and Julaine Nickels to get the process of selling their house started on Thursday.

A plan to charge a business license fee in Corvallis is running into strong objection from local real estate agents, who have a litany of questions about who must pay and how the ordinance would be enforced.

“As it is, we’re responsible for the other people who are showing our listings,” said Gary Rodgers, a Corvallis real estate agent with Northwest Realty Consultants. “Am I responsible for another Realtor paying their business license fee?”

The Downtown and Economic Vitality Plans Implementation Committee was given the job of deciding how to raise money to pay for Prosperity that Fits, a citywide plan designed to build targeted economic prosperity in Corvallis.

After considering and abandoning plans to increase hotel room taxes or impose a levy on prepared food and entertainment, the group finally landed on charging a business license fee and forwarded a recommendation to the City Council.

As proposed, businesses would be charged at least $50 annually and some would pay as much as $1,000, depending on the number of employees. People doing business in town, but not based here, would pay a $50 annual rate.

That’s a sticking point for local real estate agents who wonder how a fee might impact their industry, which relies on agents from all over the valley dropping in to show houses on short notice.

Rodgers said there are as many as 1,000 agents listed in the local Multiple Listing Service, a subscription database that agents use to find and list houses for sale not only in Corvallis but also as far away as Sweet Home and Salem.

Corvallis homes on the Multiple Listing Service are open for showings by mid-valley agents and agents from as far away as Portland and Eugene. In fact, anyone who subscribes to the database can show a house with just a phone call.

Realtors who want to show a house call the listing agent and often leave a message that they’ll be on the property. While this gives agents a broad inventory, it also means they assume liability for others in the homes they have listed for sale.

Additionally, the housing market in the mid-valley relies on contractors from outside the region to provide home inspections and repairs, with agents taking on the task of ensuring each is licensed.

It’s that notion that ultimately led the Willamette Association of Realtors to officially oppose a business license fee.

“We are concerned not only with the increased cost to our membership doing business in Corvallis but also the impact it may have on many of the businesses located outside of Corvallis that we depend on to provide affiliated services to our industry,” wrote Corvallis agent Deborah Weaver of Willamette West Real Estate on behalf of the association.

The industry also does business with title companies and lenders from outside the local community.

“It just keeps getting broader and broader the more you look at it,” Rodgers said.

City leaders promise that the kinks in bringing a fee to the business community are far from ironed out. Ward 1 Councilor Bill York said the process is just beginning.

“I would expect several months of hard work dealing specifically with these kinds of questions,” York said.

Ultimately, most administrative rules will be investigated by city staffers, who will look into how other cities collect and enforce payment of similar fees. The council will meet Monday to discuss a business license fee and whether to spend city staff time on the matter.

City Manager Jon Nelson said such a fee isn’t rare and plenty of cities have already answered questions of how to implement the fee.

“I’m really confident that we are not reinventing the wheel here,” he said. “A business license fee is common all over the country and especially the Northwest.”

As proposed, money collected from the fee must be used strictly for programs outlined by the Prosperity that Fits plan. These include business incubation and support services, promoting growth in specific industries and hiring a business retention specialist to work on behalf of the city.

If approved by the council in coming months, Nelson said it made sense to begin issuing licenses at the start of next year.

Matt Neznanski can be reached at 758-9518 or matt.neznanski@lee.net.

GT Reader Comments

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Freddie wrote on May 9, 2008 9:09 AM: " ONLY realtors like to be paid for doing absolutely nothing or very little!! This sort of fee is absolutely justified for a entity that isn't needed in the first place. The depth of the current housing crisis most likely would not be as deep if realtors weren't so greedy! " magicman wrote on May 9, 2008 9:45 AM: " City Manager is quoted as stating Im really confident that we are not reinventing the wheel here, he said. A business license fee is common all over the country and especially the Northwest." ----It's NOT all that common, furthermore, this sort of thing will just drive business OUT of the community in the long run. It's extraordinarily short-sighted. IN THEIR OWN WORDS, THEY STATE IT WILL BE USED TO HIRE A BUSINESS RETENTION SPECIALIST, to work on behalf of the city!!!! This is a pure "PORK BARELL LEGISLATIVE" move! ---It's very wrong for our community, and wrong for our community's business owners. There is an old saying "If it's not broken, don't fix it". " anneliese wrote on May 9, 2008 10:43 AM: " Freddie, you clearly have no idea what it takes to be a realtor, and people like you really tick me off. Realtors work VERY hard. My dad, for example, works weekends, holidays, etc. It's a rare day when he has an entire day off to himself. And realtors DON'T make that much. Here's an example for you. House sale price: $200,000 Commission percentage: 6% Total commission: $12,000 (6% of $200,000) Listing agent percentage: 3% (of $200,000) = $6,000 Selling agent percentage: 3% (of $200,000) = $6,000 But each of the agents may not actually pocket $6,000. The real estate agency still needs to receive its percentage of the commission, which can knock it down to $4,000 or so per agent. Which might seem like a lot - until you factor in that this could be a deal that the agent has been working on for 3 months... or 4 months.... or 6. And in those months, the agent has worked weekends, until late in the evening, etc. In addition, you're considered self-employed so you're taxed up the whazoo, responsible for your own health-care, etc. You have to pay licensing fees every year and take classes, etc. And my dad has mowed lawns, fixed windows and doors, painted, etc., on houses that he has listed. So trust me, you don't go into real estate thinking it's going to be easy money. There is the potential to make a good amount of money, but you work your butt off. So please don't spout off about something you CLEARLY know nothing about. " CarpeDM wrote on May 10, 2008 11:18 AM: " annaliese....Poor fredie chose a career that he thought would pay him more. I love it when they say someone "does nothing" for the [amount] of money they make...it's a compliment as to how well the profession/individual is doing. On the other hand his attitude his he should make as much as he needs but shouldnt have to work any harder to get it because "it's not fairrrrr....wah, wah".... Careful of the Realtors freddie....they alone have the power to make home prices go up.. and they can makes yours go down to get at you..... moo-haw-haw... (help me with this, ...if they are so "greedy" why would they create a housing crises making it harder to sell more homes.... ?) "

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