City Clerk ready to send out a yearly reminder

Hamtramck businesses will soon receive business license renewal notices.

By Charles Sercombe
Hamtramck business owners, it’s getting time to take care of business.
City Clerk August Gitschlag said his office will begin sending out business license renewals within the next month.
According to recent records from the Clerk’s Office, there are 1,033 businesses operating in the city, which includes manufacturing plants, banks and markets.
Renewals run $100, but new businesses must pay an additional $150 to cover an inspection.
All business licenses must be submitted by June 1.
Throughout the year, the Clerk’s Office will visit new businesses to make sure they have complied. Just last week, Gitschlag said he and the police chief visited several businesses that had not sought a license during the previous several months.
“We stop and make them pay right away,” Gitschlag said.
There are also those businesses that insist they are no longer operating but actually still do.
“There are people who do that stuff, but we get them to comply,” Gitschlag said.
In Hamtramck’s ever-changing business climate, dozens of businesses will come and go within each year.
In recent years, the vacancy rate on Jos. Campau, the city’s main business artery, has increased.