Last year, the city of Jackson hired Horne LLP to improve its business license database that was plagued by software failures and had become unreliable for issuing renewals and validating accuracy.
At that time, the city estimated as many as 20,000 businesses in Jackson lacked business licenses.
A business owner can now use a computer or mobile device and apply for a license at JacksonMS.ViewPoint-Cloud.com.
The digital application process allows a business owner to check online and see what has been done and remains to be done to obtain or renew a license. Payment can also be made online or in person or by mail, depending upon one’s preference.
The city took another step last month to ensure businesses are licensed.
The city council authorized the mayor to sign another professional services contract that would pay Horne $7,500 for call center services and project management to research and contact 1,000 business owners with the goal of obtaining email addresses for business license renewals.
Ashby Foote, who represents Ward 1 on the city council, questioned the need to hire a third-party to do the work.
“To keep track of business licenses should be something the city could do,” he said. “I question subbing out all that work when we’ve got staff who oversee that.”
In May 2022, Jordan Hillman, who then headed the city’s Department of Planning and Development, explained the need for additional help from Horne, writing in a memo that the launch of a new system, regular renewal processing, processing of new licenses and collections of missed revenue would be challenging at the then level of staffing and referenced $425,000 that could be claimed from neglected business licenses.
The council agreed in 2022 to pay Horne up to $181,000 to expand the scope of its work with the database, which initially included migration of data from the old software, to correcting invalid data points, identification of missing and failed renewals, identification of uncollected revenue and enrichment with external data from agencies such as the Secretary of State’s Office.
