Tales from the BudComm: Free Marketplace Part 3 - Granite Grok

Tales from the BudComm: Free Marketplace Part 3

Previous posts on the tale of the WinniWagon here and here – the saga(s) of why my hamlet’s “transient food vendor” licenses are, to plaigerize Jimmy McMillan, are “too damn high”.

Well, it seems that in looking into the costs of a food truck made more than a few people rather uncomfortable – there’s been more than a bit of scrambling around. After I put up those posts, the topic was raised during the Public Comment period at a Selectmens Meeting (to which I couldn’t attend).  Some motion on this has happened – I got a little birdie tweeting into my ear

Skip, Just a heads up that there will be a public hearing on the reduction of vendor fees at the next BOS meeting, June 24th.

Good – glad to hear it. I hope the fees go MUCH lower.  I am of two minds of what *I* think is reasonable.  What is in force right now:

  • Daily: $65
  • Weekly: $400
  • Monthly: $1,500
  • Yearly: $2,500

These are WAY out of line with other NH towns and cities; after all, what IS my town doing to warrant taking other peoples’ money given this current rate schedule? From what I figured out, not much.  Certainly not $2,500 worth of value to the vendor but certainly in line with the answer from Scott Dunn (Town Administrator, who was in office when this fee schedule was put into place) when I asked why:

“The people who pay taxes here.”

as in “to protect them” – an oblique reference of an intent to protect the brick and mortar food vendors from “disruptive forces” such as food trucks.

I have two opposing philosophies on this – one following along with the above current methodology and then one of simply cutting to the chase. If the Selectmen are bound and determined to keep a varying rate schedule in place, my replacement would be:

  • Daily: $15
  • Weekly: $60
  • Monthly: $120
  • Quarterly (a time period completely missed by Gilford, like for a “summer license”): $200
  • Yearly: $450

So, for the “cut to the chase” schedule – easy peazy: $50, period. That should be enough to cover the price of the paper, the cost to file the piece of paper by a clerk, and perhaps a couple of times to “pull” said piece of paper in case of a bad actor, a slip up on the part of a good actor, or compile a report. It’s enough to know who is working in town.

Just make sure that kiddie lemonade / candy / baked goods / hot dog stands remain free.

This whole thing, however, brings up another and next issue – what ARE the brick and mortars being charged?  Are they “out of line” as well, relatively speaking?

 

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