ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Thousands of businesses each year in Orange County get caught operating without a license. But Channel 9's Ty Russell learned that many are not forced to close immediately.
Channel 9 first tried to talk to Orlando Santiago in July, when former students at Orlando Supreme Make-up Academy contacted Eyewitness News after learning their completion certificates meant nothing since the business and school were not licensed.
A 9 Investigates search in July found no records of a business tax receipt for the location, which means the county and city didn’t know it was open. 9 Investigates didn’t find any permits in the window and there was no records of any fire or health inspections. The Florida Department of Education told 9 Investigates in October was the last time it had contact with Santiago when he was working in California.
9 Investigates uncovered that Santiago wasn't the only business owner where workers with the Orange County Tax Collector's office issued fines to for being open and not having a business tax receipt.
A field crew, with the tax collector’s office, went to more than 9,000 businesses operating with a license from July 2015 to June 2016. During that time, they collected nearly $400,000 from fines along with the price to obtain a business tax receipt.
9 investigates sat down with Orange County Tax Collector Scott Randolph who told Eyewitness News that an unlicensed business puts family’s safety at risk. But state law doesn’t give his office much power besides issuing fines.
“I think sometimes people think that, ‘Oh, you can shut down a business’ or ‘Oh, you can do health inspections’ or there’s other enforcement mechanisms you look at every year and unfortunately, it doesn’t give us those,” Randolph said. “There’s good and there’s bad. There’s weakness to it.”
Randolph said a business tax receipt shows the owner is allowed to open. The county’s business tax receipt application states the business owner must get approval from the building department to make sure the structure is safe along with the property itself.
“It’s gone through their local government’s process and also professional licenses and that they have their professional licenses from the state as well,” Randolph said.
The fee to get a license from the county ranges from $30 to $1,500 for theme parks. Randolph told 9 Investigates, most people who fail to get a license are new business owners who are unaware they need it.
Last year, business tax receipt payments netted a $4 million revenue for the county.
Cox Media Group
