Application for business licenses streamlined by county, two cities

Washoe County, and the city governments in Reno and Sparks joined forces to reduce some of the paperwork burden associated with applications for a business license.

The county and two cities have developed application forms that are nearly identical a step that's important for the many companies that conduct business in all three jurisdictions and need a business license from each.

But managers of businesses still will need to visit the business license office for each of the two cities and the county government to file the applications.

And managers of some types of businesses still may need to provide further information to meet specific requirements of city or county officials.

Bob Webb, a planning manager with the county government who oversees its business license process, said officials of the three local governments worked together for about a year to develop the streamlined forms.

The biggest question they faced: What questions were absolutely necessary to all three jurisdictions while allowing the application to be contained on a single sheet of paper?

Ultimately, Webb says, the county and two cities would like to streamline the process even further, perhaps even allowing business managers to get the licenses they need by filing a single application at a single office.

"But we decided we need to start with some baby steps first," he said.

The new forms are scheduled for use at the start of 2008.