ACTION REQUESTED:
Title
Communication from the Mayor and Corporation Counsel with a Request to ADOPT an ORDINANCE Concerning the 2021 VIDEO GAMING LICENSE RENEWALS.
Body
BACKGROUND: City of Peoria video gaming licenses run from 3/1 to 2/28, annually. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, mitigation measures put into place by the State of Illinois suspended all gaming through the Illinois Gaming Board between March 16, 20202 and June 30, 2020 and again from November 19, 2020 to the present. Hours of service during enhanced Tier 3 mitigations were limited. Licensees were severely restricted in their ability to engage in video gaming in 2020 and that has continued into 2021.
Research into approaches for 2021 video gaming license fees from other communities, can be briefly summarized as follows:
Wheeling - Reduced their videogaming license fee from $2500.00 to about $2,292.00.
Lake in the Hills - Reduced their videogaming license fee by 50% and extended payment due dates to July 2021.
Bloomington - Prorated the videogaming license fee based upon the amount of time the businesses were shutdown.
Decatur - Waived their videogaming license fee for local businesses and instead plan to charge the out-of-town terminal operators the fee.
Buffalo Grove - Reduced their videogaming license fee by 25%.
Homer Glen - Reduced their videogaming license fee by 25%.
East Moline - Making an unspecified reduction to the videogaming fee and offering additional time to pay.
The attached ordinance provides relief to video gaming license holders as follows:
1. All video gaming licenses have been extended for two months. All licenses will now expire on April 30, 2021. No license holders have to pay any additional fees for this license extension.
2. The 2021 video gaming licenses will run from May 1, 2021 to February 28, 2022, thereby putting the annual renewals back in line with traditional due dates.
3. License holders (terminal licenses not operator licenses) will pay 50% of the license fee for 2021. Operators will pay the normal fee.
4. If a license holder who pays a discounted license fees is later found guilty by a state or hearing officer of Covid mitigation measures, the license holder will be required to pay the balance of the full license rate.
5. Late fees for the 2021 applications will not be assessed until May 1, 2021.
6. The requirements for licensees to maintain at least 60% of their revenue from food/beverage sales will be waived for 2021 license only, as the 365 days prior to renewal are likely to have irregular sales from mitigation measures.
NEIGHBORHOOD CONCERNS: None.
IMPACT IF APPROVED: Financial relief provided to video gaming license holders for license fees. Decreased revenue to the City.
IMPACT IF DENIED: Financial relief not provided to video gaming license holders for license fees. May or may not result in a revenue decrease to the City as the number of bars/restaurants that offer video gaming that will no longer be in business once mitigation measures are lifted cannot be quantified.
ALTERNATIVES: No change to existing license fee structure.
EEO CERTIFICATION NUMBER: N/A
WHICH OF THE GOALS IDENTIFIED IN THE COUNCIL’S 2017 - 2032 STRATEGIC PLAN DOES THIS RECOMMENDATION ADVANCE?
1. Grow Peoria
WHICH CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTOR(S) FROM THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN DOES THIS RECOMMENDATION IMPLEMENT?
1. Grow employers and jobs.
DEPARTMENT: Legal