Fees for new small businesses to be slashed

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner will include measures in Council’s budget to new suburban dining options and food vans as well as offering assistance to start-ups to help them grow.

CAFES and restaurants will have their council fees slashed under a multimillion-dollar push from Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner to back small business in the suburbs.

The Courier-Mail can reveal footpath dining permit fees for new businesses will be cut in half when council unveils its annual budget next week, with a saving of about $670. Food business licences for new eateries will also be reduced by 50 per cent to about $400 a year, while existing small businesses will be given a 10 per cent reduction in annual fees.

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said the reduced fees and charges would be worth $2 million. AAP Image/Richard Walker

Cr Schrinner said the reductions would be worth $2 million and also apply to food van licences, market stall fees and business advertising applications.

“Small businesses are the backbone of Brisbane’s economy, with more than 124,000 small businesses providing local goods and services across our city,” he said. “The discounts will be focused on fees and charges small business are most often impacted by.

“Better use of local shopfronts will mean more to see and do locally, right across Brisbane.”

The Lord Mayor said the measures were about supporting new suburban dining options and food vans as well as offering assistance to start-ups to help them grow “when they most need the help”.

The reduced fees and charges will apply to food business licences, market stall fees and business advertising applications.

“We want to see local businesses succeeding in Brisbane, which is why we are also committing $50,000 to a Suburban Shopfront Program to focus on activating local shopfronts,” he said. “Part of this program involves an innovative matching model, to allow social enterprises and creative industry businesses, such as new designers, to take up space in vacant shopfronts.”

Another $55,000 will also be allocated to the growth of new “home-based” businesses in the suburbs, as well as $50,000 to local trader associations to develop precinct promotional plans.

Since taking up the top job, Cr Schrinner has committed to 80 per cent of council’s procurement coming from southeast Queensland business.

Originally published as Fees for new small businesses to be slashed