By Jennifer R. Hill
Many performers, especially local bands and performers, may not know they’re breaking the law by performing “gigs” in Athens. However, the City Clerk’s office recently sent out notices to local venues to inform them of Athens City Ordinances requiring business licenses for each act performing for profit.
The ordinance is one that has been on the books for years, but seldom enforced, until recently, revenue accountant for the City Clerk’s office, Peggy Pitts, said.
Originally, the business license fee for performers was felt to be too steep, at a rate of $100 per date or $400 per week, she said.
Now, according to schedule 13 of section 18-324 of Athens City Ordinances, the annual license tax is based on gross receipts instead of time, Pitts said.
The fee for local bands and entertainers, per year, routinely runs about $60, Pitts said.
Nevertheless some local business owners and performers feel that the business license fee is unreasonable, especially when performers from surrounding areas are guests in town.
Requiring each performer or band to purchase a business license, when it’s usually not required in their own hometowns, hinders business, Tommy Smith, owner of Limestone Tavern said.
Smith feels that establishments providing entertainment and serving alcohol may be the ones first targeted when enforcing the business license law, he said.
“If [the city] is in it for the money that’s one thing. If they’re doing it to finger point the establishments that do serve alcohol, I have a problem with that, he said.
Nevertheless, the business licenses requirement will apply to all entertainment and performers earning money, including benefits, Pitts said.
Even so, Smith questions where the line is drawn for the requirements.
Will fiddlers at the Tennessee Valley Fiddlers Convention with tip jars need a license, and what about downtown events, he asked.
A solution for the inconvenience would be, Smith said, to follow the example of surrounding cities, such as Huntsville, in which there is a “blanket license” a business pays for to cover all performers within an establishment.
Regardless, Smith said, his establishment will do what it takes to give locals a safe, entertaining place to go. He informs all acts scheduled to play at the Limestone Tavern that they are required to purchase licenses, he said.
“We try to do it right, keep it safe and provide a safe place to go,” he said.
Knowing local law
Those performing within Athens City limits for profit without a license are subject to fines up to $500 per offense and possible jail time.
Chapter 18 of the Code of Ordinance for the City of Athens, enacted May 27, 2009, outlines definitions for business, entertainment and any possible penalties.
Under Athens City decree a business is defined in section 18-301 as “any commercial or industrial activity or any enterprise, trade, profession, occupation, or livelihood, including the lease or rental of residential or nonresidential real estate, whether or not carried on for gain or profit, and whether or not engaged in as a principal or as an independent contractor, which is engaged in, or caused to be engaged in, within a municipality.”
Therefore, a business license would be required for any entertainment, defined in section 18-324 as: “Persons taking orders, soliciting or consummating sales of merchandise or performing such services within the city shall obtain a license based on such business, profession, or vocation, which shall entitle such business to deliver within the city without obtaining additional license …”
The Code of Ordinances can be found at the City’s Web site at www.athensal.us under “Ordinances.”
