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1 <br /> ORANGE COUNTY <br /> BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br /> ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br /> Meeting Date: September 20, 2016 <br /> Action Agenda <br /> Item No. 6-c <br /> SUBJECT: Reimbursement of Fees Paid for Massage Licenses <br /> DEPARTMENT: County Attorney/Tax <br /> Administration <br /> ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: <br /> Dwane Brinson, 919-245-2726 <br /> John Roberts, 919-245-2318 <br /> PURPOSE: To authorize the Tax Administrator to reimburse massage license fees collected <br /> from individuals to whom the massage license did not apply. <br /> BACKGROUND: Orange County, through Chapter 8, Article II of the Code of Ordinances <br /> regulates the provision of massage services in Orange County and has done so since 1985. In <br /> 1985 there was no other regulation of this industry. In 1998 the North Carolina legislature <br /> enacted the North Carolina Massage and Bodywork Therapy Practice Act (the "Act"). This act <br /> established statewide licensing requirements applicable to individuals who engage in massage <br /> or bodywork therapy. Many of the provisions of the Act are similar to the requirements of the <br /> ordinance enacted by Orange County in 1985. <br /> The provisions of the ordinance only apply in the unincorporated areas of Orange County. The <br /> County Attorney has confirmed with the attorneys for Hillsborough, Carrboro, and Chapel Hill <br /> that the ordinance was never adopted by the town governing boards for enforcement within the <br /> towns. Many of the individuals who paid the fee were not subject to the requirements of the <br /> ordinance and paid the fee under the mistaken belief that it applied to them. Much of this <br /> confusion was eliminated earlier this year when the BOCC amended the ordinance and <br /> removed the fee collection requirements for massage practitioners and kept them only for <br /> massage businesses located in the unincorporated areas of Orange County. The BOCC at that <br /> time instructed the Tax Administrator and County Attorney to provide a recommendation to <br /> reimburse those fees collected in error. <br /> The Tax Administrator has compiled massage license fee data to 2008, this being the earliest <br /> year the county has full records, and recommends that massage license fees collected from <br /> individuals working within municipalities in and after 2008 be reimbursed to those individuals. <br /> FINANCIAL IMPACT: The total reimbursement of fees collected dating back to 2008 is <br /> approximately $3,500. <br />