MARQUETTE — The Marquette County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved waiving 50% of the 2021 Marquette County Health Department licensing fees for businesses.

This was a reconsideration of a Jan. 19 board action, according to board documents. The initial instruction to the health department from the board was to rebate requesting businesses a pro-rated portion of 2020 license fees only if the state had mandated a closure due to COVID-19, according to an action item request submitted to the board.

However, the rebate process would be difficult for health department staff to implement, officials said.

“The (health department) advised that it would be much easier to implement and manage a percentage reduction to the upcoming license fee renewals,” the action item request stated. “This is a slight departure of what the board’s specific motion indicated but would still meet the objective of what the county board is seeking, providing relief to local businesses.”

Due to this, county officials came up with a proposed adjustment, Marquette County Board Chair Gerald Corkin said at Tuesday’s meeting.

“Administrators talked it over with the supervisors at the health department and they had another suggestion,” Corkin said. “They agreed with what we were trying to do, but they thought it would be much more valuable if we did it for 2021, when licenses are due at the end of April, reducing them 50% for the year, that would be easier for them to manage and everybody would benefit that has a license.”

Marquette County Administrator Scott Erbisch said commissioners could not relieve businesses of state fees, emphasizing that this adjustment is only for county health department license fees.

The Marquette County Health Department collects around $132,000 in licensing fees every year, meaning this one-time fee reduction will result in around $66,000 of reduced revenue, according to county officials.

However, health department officials will seek grant funding for assistance with the lost revenue, county documents stated.

If the grant funding is not approved, the county will increase annual heath department allocations with a budget adjustment and potentially transferring from reserves, according to the action item request.

Katie Segula can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 242. Her email address is ksegula@miningjournal.net.