The village I am working in wants me to pay a license fee of $75.00. Their is an Illinois statute that says that an electrical contractor who is registered in another municipality shall not be required to register or pay a registration fee in other municipalities. The statute also says the registration fee cannot be more than $25.00.

Now, is the loophole for the village the fact that they are not charging a registration fee but in fact are charging a licensing fee ?

Comments ?

This has baffled me for a few years. When you figure it out, let me know.

Dave

resqcapt19 posted this little gem in a thread a while ago:

(65 ILCS 5/11 33 1) (from Ch. 24, par. 11 33 1)
Sec. 11 33 1. The corporate authorities of each municipality may require the registration of electrical contractors, and may impose an annual registration fee of $25 on each registered contractor. An electrical contractor who is registered in one municipality, however, shall not be required by any other municipality to be registered or to pay a registration fee in the other municipality.

....which is (as you obviously know) what you are referring to. I have cut & pasted it to word and then I print it up for contractors to take in when they go for permit. They show my home town registration along with this. One village was downright rude throwing it back at the GC telling him they don't need to look at anything. They were asking for $75 too. Oddly enough, when he went in to pick up his permit, they gave it to him without requiring the fee.

I had an inspector explain that in order to license around here the municipality has to maintain a licensing board and test. But the license he was talking about may be different that the license these people want. I guess anybody call something a license.

I would bring in a copy of your license and registration as well as the above verbage and politly inform them that it is illegal to require and they may want have their city attorney take look into it. IT could also be the result of nobdy knowing and nobody doing anything about it.

If you are already licensed, they cannot "re-license" you.

They must register you.

There's a village near me that wants to hit up all contractors with a $50 fee:


I'm supposed to bid on a job down there... think I might bring an excerpt from the ILCS ;D

It's easy to explain. Some places try to rob the EC.

There is 2 different things that are often confused:
Electrical License
& Electrical Registration

Why it is 2 different things has no good reason except to collect $ in more then 1 way.

Some places do understand the $25 max registration if you are unregistered. Others try to ask but I send a copy of my registration along with the statute. Some just get me angery by saying "we don't care, you want to work here then pay us this". They understand that very few business want to go to court fighting over an unnessisary fee under $100.

The real trouble is no state wide rules, licences, etc.

Tom

Not to beat a dead horse but I just had a situation with a village not willing to recognize my certificate of registration.

The reason I called the village questioning the fee is the fact that their registration fee is $150.00, a little ridiculous IMO.

I explained to the lady answering the phone in the building dept. that there is a statute in place that restricts a village from imposing this fee if a registration fee has already been paid in another village. She said it only applies to plumbers because they are licensed by the state. I asked if there was anyone else I could talk to and she said, "You can take it up with the head of the building dept., Good luck."

I explained the statute to this gentleman and he said, " We are not aware of any such statute." I said, " I can fax it over if you like." "Go ahead.", he said.

So I did and I called him the next day to verify he had received my fax. He did get it and he forwarded the fax to the village attorney. Got a call the next day and was told the statute does apply and I do not have to pay the $150.00.

Now, I may have opened a can of trouble for myself when it comes time for inspection...

Also, I sent an email to the State Attorney's office asking if a village could refuse to abide by the statute. I got a letter today stating "The State Attorney's office can only advise attorneys and state offices in legal matters. However, we have enclosed paperwork from a lawsuit brought by an electrical contractor against the village of belveidere for the same reasons."

The contractor won.......

[This message has been edited by sparky 134 (edited 10-28-2005).]

way to go Bill. Was that Bolingbrook wanting the $150? I'm glad to hear the story. It really helps to know for the next it becomes an issue.

Can you imagine the class action lawsuit for every contractor that has been illegally overcharged?

If more and more contractors start pursuing this, I think the villages will change from a registration fee to a 'licensing' fee. You won't have to pay to register, just pay to get our 'license'......

This thread has made me do some thinking.

I think that maybe this situation is one of those things that can perhaps be best handled by a trade association. With a trade association running interference, the individual contractor does not have to take time from what he loves- doing electric work- and there is no risk of any individual contractor putting himself "in the bullseye" for harrassment.

Good job Bill.

Some places are just out of control with fees. I don't mind paying what xx amount to work. What I hate is you never know your cost to work somewhere. Last month I paid $375 to do a panel change out with city bond, city business registration, permit fee, & inspection fee. Another place was about $550 to get a generator permit. I can't get a total from many places until the permit is ready. By that time the job is sold. Even if I put down the customer pays permit fees it does not allways work out. Some places have so many different charges where the permit is only a small part of it. Now I have to say the customer pays all, all & all village costs involved with the project.

It just seems like some places try to hit the contractor hard after the job is sold. SO instead of taxing the residents they tax the trades.

Tom

Here is something else to stir the pot. As you may or may not know, Senate Bill 932, "The Illiois Electricians Act" passed the Senate earlier this year and in my conversations with Speaker Madigan's office, stands a good chance of passing the House this fall or next spring. I have also been told the Guv will bless it as well. I know this does not relate to registration per village, but it will have a huge impact on licensing.

May want to gear up fellas. I think it is on its way!

The only problem is they dumped it into the OSFM (Office of the State Fire Marshal) - a likely resource but one that is already suffering from poor morale and personnel retention problems.

They should have used OSFM as a resource and sent it to Bureau of Professional Regulation...

ETA - saw the exemption for "Any city, village, or incorporated town having a population of 500,000 or more..."

Gee... they must be talking about Schaumburg...

[This message has been edited by DougW (edited 10-30-2005).]

That last time I looked at the bill It was my understanding there was a double standard. A what ever over 500,000 people can make it's own rules and testing. If your licianced in the 500K place you can work anywhere in IL. But being licenced in IL does not allow you to work in the 500K place. IMO it is to reduce suburban EC from working in Chicago. But give Chi EC the advantage. Sorta like the way it is now where Chicago only accepts a Chicago license.

At least the bill puts everyone elce in IL on the same page.

Tom

I'm having trouble connecting to a site with this bill. Could someone copy & paste it into this thread?

As for Chicago, you couldn't pay me enough for that trip. The trip downtown for a permit for anything in Cook County is enough to deter me.

Dave

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ful...p;LegID=17976&SpecSess=&Session=

If that link doesn't work, go to www.ilga.gov ,

and then click on "Bills and Resolutions",

then "Senate - Bills": look for 0901 - 1000 (in the right column, second down),

Then click on

SB0932 REGULATION-TECH

Click on "Full Text".

Thanks Doug.

This would be SO GOOD for business!

Dave

Amen Dave.

Good 'ole supply & demand!

Steve

Also, does anybody know if the multiple city fee law is in effect in California?
Incidentally,this is not exclusively electrical, but in my town, Santa Rosa, it costs over $40,000. to get a permit for building a 2000 SF house.