Business registration exceeds expectations

January 22, 2010

Six months ago, Valencia County said it anticipated a more than 50-percent drop in business registrations, highlighting the trouble businesses were having in a tough economy.

The county’s code enforcement director, Ruben Chavez, who is in charge of licensing, said of 1,600 businesses registered prior to 2009, he expected fewer than 700 would still be operating in 2009. He based his projection on the high number of businesses that were delinquent in renewing their licenses.

On Wednesday, Chavez put the final number of businesses licenses for 2009 into a report for the county commission. The county ended up issuing just over 1,200 licenses last year.

“That’s pretty good news compared to what we forecasted,” he said.

New residential construction, however, remained down throughout the year.

The county issued only one residential construction permit in January 2009. Permits hit a peak during the summer at 20 in July. The county was down to five permits in December.

In total, the county issued 90 home construction permits in 2009. In 2008, the county issued 164 permits. In 2007, when new home construction was still booming, the county issued 248.

“That’s a reflection of what the economy did. Homes and real estate seem to dictate everything,” Chavez said, adding, “We all feel what that pinch has done.”

Posted in: Economy