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(Jun. 15/09) The City of Edmonton wants to impose a $280 annual fee on all licensed establishments – and CRFA needs your help to fight it.
The mandatory fee would fund a new “industry association” that would needlessly duplicate activities already underway through the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission (AGLC) and Alberta Safer Bars Council to reduce alcohol related violence in and around bars and nightclubs.
A group known as Responsible Hospitality Edmonton, composed largely of city officials, is pushing the idea of a Responsible Edmonton Hospitality Association, which would levy a mandatory $280 surcharge on the business licenses of all licensed establishments in the city.
Operators will be able to opt out of membership in the association – but the fee will be levied whether or not a licensee is interested in being an active member.
The city’s executive committee narrowly approved a motion earlier this month to move forward with the proposal. Mayor Stephen Mandel, however, rightly argued that such an association is “the responsibility of those in the industry.” The motion was passed by executive council, but it has yet to be approved by the entire city council.
In reality the new association would be nothing more than another City of Edmonton department funded by a mandatory hospitality industry fee.
How you can fight the fee
To date, city councillors have only heard only one side of the story. They have not yet heard from the hundreds of licensed establishments in Edmonton that do not have problems with over-consumption of alcohol or violence in their operations or neighborhoods.
As responsible small business owners, CRFA members are encouraged to contact Edmonton city councillors as soon as possible to object to the proposed $280 fee.
For more information on how to fight this unfair fee, please call Mark von Schellwitz in CRFA’s Western Canada office at 1-866-300-7675 or email mark@crfa.ca.
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