Las Vegas business licensing information hits the Internet

Erin Neff

Friday, Sept. 10, 1999 | 10:28 a.m.

The hundreds of people who call Las Vegas City Hall each day for information about business licenses will now be able to click and point their way to answers without tying up city staff.

The city's website now includes an interactive business license section to give potential business owners information about zoning, fees and procedures that typically take up staff time.

"This will streamline how the city does business," Mayor Oscar Goodman said Thursday as the new portion of the website was unveiled.

It will also save the 380 average daily callers to the city's Business License Division the headache of jumping through City Hall phone hoops.

Roughly 80 percent of the questions asked city staff about business licenses can be answered online at www.ci.las-vegas.nv.us

Users can look up each city-issued business license by the owner's name or business name on the database.

But more importantly, prospective business owners are taken step by step through the process.

"The first question might be, 'Are you sure you're in the city?' " said the city's Finance Director Mark Vincent.

By typing the address of the proposed business, the owner can determine whether to proceed with city licenses or go to Clark County for help.

"The interactive map will also give you some zoning information," said Joseph Marcella, the city's director of Information Technologies. "It will let you know if that business is proper."

Land-use codes are included to ensure prospective professional offices, night clubs, adult businesses or medical centers are permitted in a given area.

By clicking on the type of business you plan to open, the database will then send you to a description of that business and the applicable fee for obtaining a license.

Although prospective business owners cannot yet apply for business licenses online, they can get information on the steps needed to get a license.

Application forms can be downloaded from the site and mailed to the city with the appropriate fee, saving business owners time.

Jim DiFiore, manager of business licenses, said the city will issue non-privileged licenses within 3 to 10 days. Privileged licenses -- issued for bars, sexually oriented stores and other businesses -- are also discussed on the site, although those licenses require interaction with business licensing staff.

Marcella said the database was created within 90 days at a cost of $3,500 using internal city staff. The city's current technology infrastructure made it easier to implement the business license service, he said.