Agenda - Council - 09/28/1993 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

'1 I I DISCUSSION OF PAWN SHOPS AND AUTO DEALERS By: Police Chief Michael Auspos CASE FEES Background: At the direction of the Council, information has been compiled on the license fees set for pawnshops/second hand goods dealers and automobile dealers. I I Currently the fee for a pawnshop license is $1,500 with a $250 investigation fee for the initial application. The license is valid for one year from date of issuance. Second hand goods dealers are included in the ordinance with some exemptions (see copy of City Ordinance, Code 130.121). Motor vehicle dealers are expressly excluded in the definition. Some fees from other communities are as follows: I I I I I I I I I I I I *Note: Champlin $12,000 Blaine 1,200 Brooklyn Center 12,000 Anoka* 1,000 Elk River 1,750 Robbinsdale 7,500 Crystal 515 to $773 plus $250 investigation fee plus $500 investigation fee plus $1,500 investigation fee plus $160 investigation fee investigation fee included plus $750 (or more) investigation fee investigation fee included 206 for secondhand goods license I am told that Anoka will be raising their fee substantially next year. On August 19, 1993, Linda Aaseby began keeping track of the time she spends on entering into our computer the details of the pawn and sales slips for each of the three pawnshops. On September 16, 1993, this amounted to 11 hours. While it is not really valid to use this to compute an average for 12 months, if one does so, it amounts to 132 hours. At approximately $10.00 an hour clerical cost, the total would be $1,320 for the year. This is for one pawnshop (Ralph's Guns and Pawn). Again for Ralph's Guns and Pawn, I calculate that it takes an officer about three minutes or less each day to pick up the pawn/sales slips. At 313 days per year, this comes to 16 hours, or $480 based on $30 per hour, for an officer. It needs to be noted that the pawn shop owner can deliver these to the Police Department daily, per ordinance, however, I have been having the officers stop by since they pass by frequently and it may be of some value to have their presence in the shop on a daily, non-scheduled basis. The approximate cost for clerical and officer time cOmes to $1,800 per year. If the officers do not pick up the slips, this amount would be reduced to $1,320. It would be extremely difficult to determine the cost of police involvement in situations that arise from the pawnshops, such as recovery of stolen merchandise at the request of another agency or our own cases. The Council may also want to discuss whether or not clothing consignment shops, which typically deal in used clothing either taken in for consignment sales or purchased and