Lucas County
Lucas County Auditor, Licensing Division
In short
Lucas County Auditor, Licensing Division issues 3 permits we publish for Lucas County, last verified 2026-09-30. Each carries the fee as the agency publishes it, with a link to the schedule it was read from.
What this agency issues
| Permit | Issuing agency | Fee | Renews | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Junk Yard Licenseonly if it applies to you | Lucas County Auditor, Licensing Division | $25.00 for the license and $10.00 for each annual renewal, both set by ORC 4737.07: 'The fee for a license issued under this section is twenty-five dollars' and a license 'may be renewed from year to year upon paying the chief executive officer of the municipality or the auditor of the county in which the junk yard is located the sum of ten dollars for each such renewal.' The Lucas County Auditor's own junk yard page states the same two figures: 'The initial fee is $25.00, and the annual renewal fee is $10.00.' | annual; ORC 4737.07 provides that every license expires on the first day of January following the date of issue, and the Auditor's page states the same | 2026-09-30 |
| County Vendor's License | Lucas County Auditor, Licensing Division | $50 one-time, for each fixed place of business in Lucas County that will be the situs of retail sales ($25 to the state organized crime commission fund, $25 credited to the Lucas County general fund) | standing registration — ORC 5739.17 sets no expiry date and no renewal fee; a change in the vendor's identity requires a new license, and a license does not transfer to another county | 2026-09-30 |
| Retail Cigarette Dealer's Licenseonly if it applies to you | Lucas County Auditor, Licensing Division | $125.00 for each physical place of business, per license year, set by ORC 5743.15(B)(1) and stated on the Lucas County Auditor's own page as 'Cigarette License Renewal Fee: $125.00 per location'. An application filed after the first day of June is proportioned to the remainder of the license year but is never less than $25.00. A duplicate license for one lost, destroyed or defaced is $5.00, and a transfer to another place of business in the same county, with ownership interest and business structure unchanged, is $5.00 paid into the county treasury. | one year commencing on the first day of June; applications and renewals are made to the county auditor annually on or before the first day of June | 2026-09-30 |
Fees shown as a range or formula are set that way by the issuing agency — we do not average them into a single number.
About each permit
Junk Yard License
This license reaches an auto-repair business only where that business is also storing, keeping, buying or selling junk — ORC 4737.05(B) defines a junk yard as 'an establishment or place of business that is maintained or operated for the purpose of storing, keeping, buying, or selling junk', so a shop doing ordinary mechanical repair is outside it. Both figures are statutory rather than county-set, a point worth stating plainly because the $10.00 renewal is sometimes described as a local amount: ORC 4737.07 sets the $25.00 license fee and the $10.00 annual renewal in the same paragraph. The county auditor's license covers junk yards outside a municipality; inside a municipality, for a yard in a zoned or unzoned industrial area adjacent to the interstate or primary system, the license comes from the municipality's chief executive officer instead, and ORC 4737.07 provides that the requirement is in addition to regulations imposed and licenses required under municipal ordinances — the City of Toledo, for instance, issues its own junk or recycling yard and scrap processing yard licenses. Application is by written sworn statement to the auditor under ORC 4737.08, and ORC 4737.10 requires the Lucas County Sheriff to inspect the yard before a license is granted or renewed and twice each year thereafter; the Auditor's page states that each business must be inspected annually by the Sheriff to qualify.
County Vendor's License
Any business with a fixed Lucas County location that is the situs of taxable retail sales — a restaurant, coffee shop, food truck with a base of operations, retail store, salon selling product, auto-repair shop selling parts, fitness studio selling merchandise or a veterinary practice selling goods — registers for this license with the Lucas County Auditor before making sales. The $50.00 figure is statutory rather than county-set: ORC 5739.17(A) requires the applicant to pay 'a license fee in the sum of fifty dollars for each fixed place of business in the county that will be the situs of retail sales', of which the auditor transmits $25 to the state organized crime commission fund and credits $25 to the county general fund. The amount rose from $25 with H.B. 366 of the 135th General Assembly, effective April 9, 2025, so older secondary sources quoting $25 are quoting the superseded figure. The Auditor's own vendor page states the same amount — 'The fee for a vendor's license is $50.00' — and asks for cash or a check payable to the Lucas County Auditor at One Government Center, Suite 670, Toledo. The license must be displayed prominently at the place of business, and a vendor moving a fixed place of business to another Ohio county obtains a new license there rather than transferring this one. The Lucas County sales tax rate stated on the Auditor's page is 7.75%. A business inside the City of Toledo may also need a city license: Toledo regulates business activity separately under part 7 of the Toledo Municipal Code through its Division of Treasury.
Retail Cigarette Dealer's License
A convenience store, grocery, restaurant or coffee shop that sells cigarettes at retail in Lucas County needs this license from the Lucas County Auditor; a business that sells no cigarettes has no occasion to apply for it. The figures are statutory, set by ORC 5743.15(B) rather than by the county, and the Auditor's own cigarette page states the same amounts — $125.00 per location with a renewal deadline of June 1, $5.00 for a duplicate, and $5.00 for an in-county transfer, which the Auditor conditions on the associated vendor's license already having been transferred with the State of Ohio. The license runs with the physical place of business, so a retailer with several Lucas County locations pays $125.00 for each of them. The proration rule is worth knowing for a business opening mid-year: an application filed after the first day of June is charged in proportion to the remainder of the license year, subject to a floor of $25.00. Wholesale cigarette dealing is a separate, state-level license issued by the Ohio tax commissioner at $1,000 per physical place under ORC 5743.15(C), not a county license, and is outside the scope of this county record.
Contact
- Jurisdiction
- Lucas County
- Phone
- 419-213-4406
Contact details are taken from the agency’s own site or its published fee schedule. Where we have not verified a phone number we leave it blank rather than guess.
Sources
Every fee and term above was read from one of these government pages on the date shown.
- Business Licenses — the City of Toledo's own page: 'Business regulation is defined and established by part 7 of the Toledo Municipal Code', licenses expire annually on March 31 unless otherwise stated, and 'Food Safety — Licensing of food vendors is managed by the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department'City of Toledo, Division of Treasury · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
- Cigarette License — the Lucas County Auditor's own page: 'Cigarette License Renewal Fee: $125.00 per location — Renewal Deadline: June 1', duplicate $5.00, in-county transfer $5.00Lucas County Auditor · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
- Junk Yard License — the Lucas County Auditor's own page: 'The initial fee is $25.00, and the annual renewal fee is $10.00', 'Licenses expire on the first day of January following the date of issuance', and each business must be inspected annually by the Lucas County SheriffLucas County Auditor · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
- ORC 4737.05 — 'junk yard' means an establishment or place of business maintained or operated for the purpose of storing, keeping, buying or selling junkOhio Legislative Service Commission · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
- ORC 4737.07 — junk yard/secondhand dealer license issuance and the $25 license feeOhio Legislative Service Commission · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-29
- ORC 4737.10 — the sheriff of each county shall inspect a junk yard before a license is granted or renewed, and shall inspect licensed junk yards twice each yearOhio Legislative Service Commission · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
- ORC 5739.17, Vendor's License — $50 fee ($25 to the state Organized Crime Commission Fund, $25 to the county general fund), effective April 9, 2025Ohio Legislative Service Commission · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-29
- ORC 5743.15 — retail cigarette dealer's license, $125 application fee per physical place, license year commencing 1 June, $25 proration floor, $5 duplicate and transfer fees, and the 30/10/60 distribution of the feeOhio Legislative Service Commission · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
- Vendor's License — the Lucas County Auditor's own page: 'The fee for a vendor's license is $50.00', payable by cash or check to the Lucas County Auditor, with the county sales tax rate at 7.75%Lucas County Auditor · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
Other offices serving Lucas County
The full permit list for this jurisdiction
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Ohio jurisdictions
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