Chowchilla City Council revises licensing fees for food truck owners

CHOWCHILLA, Calif. (KFSN) -- Food truck vendors are breathing a sigh of relief tonight. This comes after Chowchilla City leaders voted to lower the cost of food truck licensing from $100 a day, which totaled to around $36,500 a year, to a much smaller annual fee.

At Tuesday's Chowchilla City Council meeting, city leaders voted to revise its licensing fee. Councilmember Barragan abstained from the vote.

"We never wanted it to be a burden on any business," said Mayor Kelly Smith.

Mayor Kelly Smith said after hearing from upset community members, they looked into what changes needed to be made.

On Friday afternoon, workers at Tacos Chilis off Robertson Boulevard in Chowchilla were getting food ready for their hungry customers.

Action News spoke to Taco Chilis Owner Jesus Sanchez on the phone about the decision to change the fees. Sanchez is happy to see city leaders make the change. He said the previous fee made operations too expensive.

"Everything right now in the stores is expensive," said Sanchez. "It would limit the time of business because you can't really operate without paying a high fee."

According to the city's staff report, licensing fees can range from $21 dollars for businesses that make below $10,000 to $344 dollars for businesses that make more than $200,000. Food truck operators will also need to pay an annual 225-dollar inspection fee.

"It seems to be something the community is interested in just from my conversations with people," said Mayor Smith. "We do encourage business; we're very business-friendly."

Catalina Lopez owns the food truck Tacos El Guerrero and said when she heard about the fees, she had to stop for a few weeks.

"It did affect me because I had to stop work for three weeks because it was just too much money to pay," said Lopez.

Lopez even considered moving her food truck outside of Chowchilla. But like Sanchez, she is also happy about the changes. Both owners want to continue serving up their food to people.

"There's always something new that could come in and offer for the people," said Sanchez.

The council will vote on approval at its next meeting. The new fee schedule will then be posted on the city website starting February 23.

For news updates, follow Ana Torrea on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.