For purposes of determining the number of employees for calculating the license fee, the following rules shall govern:
A. Only those individuals working in the city shall be considered in the total number of employees. However, the fact an individual also works outside the city shall not exclude him or her from the total sum of employees for purposes of this chapter.
B. The owner or officers of a business shall be included in the total number of employees.
C. Individuals working less than twenty (20) hours per week for a business shall be considered a fraction of an employee in such amount as their average weekly hours worked bear to forty (40) hours.
D. The annual license fee shall be determined by the greatest number of employees employed by the business between January 1 and December 31 of the preceding year in which the license is payable. The number of employees shall be determined by the employer's highest numerical count and most recent employer's unemployment compensation quarterly report filed with the Washington state employment security department.
E. A new business that has not yet established or reported employee information to the state shall determine their initial license fee by the maximum number of employees estimated to be employed during that calendar year.
F. Businesses doing business in the city that have no employees physically working within the city shall pay the minimum license fee required under this chapter.
G. Real estate and insurance agents or salespeople shall be considered employees of the agency/entity from which they work, and shall not be required to obtain a separate license, but shall be included in the calculation of total employees if the license fee is based upon the number of employees. (Ord. 939, 4-30-2014)