Clark Co. business licensing services placed on the Internet

Steve Humm

Thursday, June 11, 1998 | 11:25 a.m.

Clark County unveiled two new services allowing customers to access information from the county's business license database and apply for temporary business licenses from remote locations.

The Business License Internet Inquiry System will allow individuals all over the world to obtain a variety of data including license status, address and ownership of the businesses in unincorporated Clark County. More than 35,000 records will be available within seconds to visitors to the county's website.

This system, which is updated nightly, will eliminate the need for customers to call the County Business License Department in order to gather information. In addition, the system will allow a variety of searches to be conducted.

Visitors to the website will be able to search by business name, owner, address, license number or corporate name, and they will be able to further pinpoint their search geographically.

Business License Director Ardel Jorgensen said the system was necessary to deal with tremendous economic growth, which is causing a flood of information requests.

"We get hundreds of calls and the impact on the staff is tremendous," she said this week.

Jorgensen foresaw a variety of potential users including entrepreneurs, consumers and police.

The county is also excited about its new Interactive Licensing Station (ILS), which allows customers to obtain a temporary business license within minutes without traveling to the Clark County Government building. Jorgensen said a business can now be operational in a few hours, as opposed to the few days that were required in the past.

One ILS is currently in operation at the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce building, but two more are planned for the near future, Jorgensen said. The fee for a temporary license obtained using the ILS is the same as the fee for a license obtained in the traditional manner. The fee is paid directly to the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce under the current arrangement.

In addition to the temporary license, customers can obtain a checklist at the ILS that will guide them through the process of application for the type of permanent business license they require. Liquor and gaming licenses are not available due to their more complex nature.

Jorgensen hopes that one day customers can avoid the Government Center altogether. Application for business licenses over the Internet, which is under development, may make that goal a reality.

She said "mom and pop" establishments should be allowed to move into operation quickly, because "every day they are not open means lost revenue."

Jorgensen said cost figures for both programs were difficult to summarize. The Internet Inquiry System involved very little additional cost because it was developed using county resource that were already in place. No new hardware or software was required.

Jorgensen estimated the cost of developing the software for the ILS program was roughly $100,000.

The cost of the hardware for each ILS unit is approximately $8,000. This figure does not impact county costs though, because all of the hardware must be purchased by the location in which the unit is operated. The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce paid for the first unit, which is housed in its office.

Las Vegas is currently working on an on-line application for business licenses, but the service is not yet operational. North Las Vegas does not have a website.

Las Vegas, Boulder City and Henderson do not offer the type of database access that the county now provides on its website.