Summit County

Summit County Fiscal Office, Services Department

In short

Summit County Fiscal Office, Services Department issues 7 permits we publish for Summit 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

Permits required, with issuing agency, fee, renewal term and the date each record was last verified against its source
Permit	Issuing agency	Fee	Renews	Last checked
Vendor's License (County Vendor's License, form ST-1)	Summit County Fiscal Office, Services Department	$50 one-time, for each fixed place of business in the county that is the situs of retail sales ($25 to the state organized crime commission fund, $25 to the Summit County general fund)	standing registration — ORC 5739.17 sets no expiry date and no renewal fee; a new license is required on a change of the vendor itself or for a place of business in another county	2026-09-30
Massage Establishment Permitonly if it applies to you	Summit County Fiscal Office, Services Department	$185 a non-refundable filing fee per establishment, paid to the Auditor (the Fiscal Officer under the county charter)	one year from the date of issue — §749.05(b) provides that the permit 'will terminate at the expiration of one year from the date of its issuance, unless sooner suspended or revoked' and that 'the owner must request re-issuance of a permit from the Auditor's Office'	2026-09-30
Masseur / Masseuse Permitonly if it applies to you	Summit County Fiscal Office, Services Department	$85 a non-refundable filing fee per individual practitioner	one year from the date of issue — §749.09(b) sets the same one-year term for the individual permit as §749.05(b) sets for the establishment permit	2026-09-30
Firewood Sales Licenseonly if it applies to you	Summit County Fiscal Office, Services Department	$25 per license under §733.08	annual — §733.08 provides that 'the license shall expire annually on December 31'	2026-09-30
Kennel Licenseonly if it applies to you	Summit County Fiscal Office, Services Department	As published on the Summit County Fiscal Office's kennel license application: $80.00 per kennel license, including five tags, if purchased by 31 January; $160.00 per kennel if purchased after 31 January, being the registration fee plus the statutory penalty equal to it, which the form states is a flat amount and is not prorated; and $8.00 for each additional tag beyond the first five.	annual, due by 31 January; ORC 955.04 sets the filing deadline and the penalty equal to the registration fee for a late filing	2026-09-30
Junk Yard License (junk yard outside a municipality)only if it applies to you	Summit County Fiscal Office, Services Department	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.' Both figures are statutory rather than county-set.	annual — ORC 4737.07 provides that a license issued under the section expires on the first day of January following the date of issue, and is renewable from year to year	2026-09-30
Retail Cigarette Dealer's Licenseonly if it applies to you	Summit County Fiscal Office, Services Department	$125 a year, for each physical place where the retail business of trafficking in cigarettes is carried on; $5 for a duplicate license and $5 to transfer a license to another location in the same county	annual; the license year commences 1 June and the application is due on or before the first day of June each year, with a license issued later in the year prorated but not below $25	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

Vendor's License (County Vendor's License, form ST-1)

A business making retail sales subject to Ohio sales tax from premises in Summit County registers with the Summit County Fiscal Office on form ST-1 before making sales. The Fiscal Office's own vendor licensing page states that 'a vendor's license authorizes a business to engage in tangible retail sales and charge sales tax' and that 'a license is required for each location of operation within the county,' and gives the fee as $50. The amount is statutory rather than county-set: ORC 5739.17(A) requires the applicant to pay into the county treasury '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,' with $25 credited to the organized crime commission fund and $25 to the county general fund. The section's own version history records its amendment by House Bill 366 of the 135th General Assembly, effective 9 April 2025, which is why the $25 figure that still circulates is out of date. Two provisions matter for particular operators: ORC 5739.17(C) provides that where a vendor has no fixed place of business and sells from a vehicle, 'each vehicle intended to be used within a county constitutes a place of business,' which puts a food truck squarely inside this license; and ORC 5739.17(D) offers a statewide transient vendor's license, also $50, obtained from the Tax Commissioner, whose holder 'shall not be required to obtain a separate vendor's license from the county auditor' in a county where it maintains no fixed place of business. The same section also allows the application to be made through the Tax Commissioner's registration system on behalf of the county auditor.

Massage Establishment Permit

Codified Ordinances Chapter 749 requires a permit for a massage establishment, defined as 'any establishment having a fixed place of business where any person, firm, association or corporation engages in, or carries on, any of the activities included in the definition of massage.' §749.02 reads: 'No person shall engage in, conduct or carry on, or permit to be engaged in, conducted or carried on, in or upon any premises in the County, the operation of a massage establishment without first having obtained a permit therefor from the Auditor of the County of Summit after approval of the Health Officer.' The fee is set by the ordinance text itself — §749.03(a) requires the applicant to 'pay a nonrefundable filing fee of one hundred eighty-five dollars ($185.00) to the Auditor' — and the figures come from Ord. 90-93 and Ord. 94-320 as carried in the current American Legal codification, with no later amending ordinance in the chapter's sectional history; Summit County Public Health also publishes a copy of the chapter on its Environmental Health Codes page. Under the charter the Auditor's statutory functions sit with the Fiscal Officer. The exemption in §749.21 is what decides whether a salon or studio is in scope at all: the chapter 'shall not apply to hospitals, nursing homes, sanitaria or persons holding an unrevoked massotherapist license or an unrevoked certificate to practice the healing arts under the laws of the State, or persons working under the direct supervision and in their presence … nor shall this chapter apply to barbers or cosmetologists lawfully carrying out their particular profession or business and holding a valid, unrevoked license or certificate of registration issued by the State.' A studio whose massage work is done by state-licensed massage therapists, or by state-licensed barbers or cosmetologists within their scope, is outside the chapter. Processing runs through other offices: §749.03(b) has the Auditor refer copies of the application within five days 'to the appropriate Fire Department, the Health Commissioner, the Building Inspection Department, and the appropriate Police Department,' which have thirty days to inspect and report; appeals go to a Review Board of three County Council members whose decision '[c]onstitutes a final appealable order and is subject to appeal under Ohio R.C. 2506.01' (§749.06(c)). Chapter 749 carries no territorial or nonapplicability clause across §§749.01–749.99, and Charter §1.02 provides that in a conflict 'the exercise of powers by the municipality or township shall prevail,' so a business inside an incorporated city or village should check both this chapter and its own municipality's rules.

Masseur / Masseuse Permit

Alongside the establishment permit, Chapter 749 permits the individual practitioner: §749.07 provides that an applicant 'shall pay a nonrefundable filing fee of eighty-five dollars ($85.00),' and §749.09(b) gives the permit the same one-year term from issue as the establishment permit. The figures are taken from the ordinance text as carried in the current American Legal codification of the Codified Ordinances of Summit County, from Ord. 90-93 and Ord. 94-320 with no later amending ordinance in the chapter's sectional history, and Summit County Public Health publishes its own copy of the chapter on its Environmental Health Codes page. The same §749.21 exemption governs scope: a practitioner holding an unrevoked state massotherapist license or an unrevoked certificate to practise the healing arts, someone working under such a person's direct supervision and in their presence, and a state-licensed barber or cosmetologist working within their own profession are all outside the chapter, so in practice this permit reaches massage work done by a person who holds none of those state credentials. The chapter attaches several other duties to the individual: §749.08(g) requires fingerprinting and photographs through the Sheriff's Department, and §749.08(h) requires a physician's certificate to the Health Officer before employment 'and at least once every six months thereafter.' §749.23 opens the establishment's appointment-book records to the Sheriff's Department or the Health Officer. Chapter 749 contains no territorial clause, and Charter §1.02 makes a municipality's or township's exercise of the same power prevail in a conflict.

Firewood Sales License

A garden centre, landscaper, farm stand, hardware store or general retailer that sells fireplace or stove wood in Summit County needs this license. §733.06 provides that 'no person, partnership, corporation or other entity, unless duly licensed as provided in this chapter, shall engage in the regular business of selling, advertising or offering for sale, fireplace or stove wood,' and §733.08 sets the amount and the term: 'Upon approval of the County Auditor or his designee and after a payment of twenty-five dollars ($25.00), the County Auditor or his designee shall issue a license to the applicant. The license shall expire annually on December 31.' The figure is the ordinance's own, from Ord. 86-486 as carried in the current American Legal codification. The Fiscal Office lists firewood licensing among its published services and states on that page that 'all persons selling firewood must also obtain a vendors license,' so a firewood seller holds both this license and the county vendor's license listed separately. The chapter also regulates how the wood may be sold: §733.03 and §733.04 allow fuel wood to be sold only by the cord of 128 cubic feet or a fraction of one, or in packaged form labelled in cubic feet or metres, and prohibit the terms 'face cord', 'rick', 'pile', 'truckload', 'rack', 'scoop' and 'bundle'; §733.05 requires a delivery ticket or sales invoice for every non-packaged sale, carrying the vendor's and purchaser's details, the date, the quantity, the price and the type and age of the wood; and §733.13 requires the license number in every advertisement. Method of sale for firewood is one of the things the Fiscal Office's Weights and Measures Division inspects, as its own page states. Chapter 733 runs from §733.01 to §733.99 with no territorial or nonapplicability clause of the kind Chapters 741 and 775 carry, and Charter §1.02 provides that in a conflict 'the exercise of powers by the municipality or township shall prevail.'

Kennel License

This license reaches a commercial dog breeding operation, not a veterinary practice as such. The county's own application quotes the statutory definition — a kennel 'keeps, houses, and maintains adult dogs … for the purpose of breeding the dogs for a fee or other consideration received through a sale, exchange, or lease and that is not a high volume breeder licensed under Chapter 956 of the Revised Code' — so unless a clinic also breeds dogs for sale, a veterinary practice providing medical care or ordinary boarding has no kennel license to obtain on that basis. The figures are taken from the Fiscal Office's current kennel license application form: $80.00 per kennel including five tags if bought by 31 January, $160.00 after that date (the fee plus a statutory penalty equal to it, which the form states is a flat amount and not prorated), and $8.00 per additional tag. The statutory framework is ORC 955.04, which sets the January filing date and the penalty, with ORC 955.14 giving the county authority to establish a higher registration fee than the statutory base. The Fiscal Office states on its kennel licensing page that 'kennel licenses can only be purchased at our Services Department … or you can mail your completed application and the appropriate fee,' at 1030 E. Tallmadge Ave., Akron. A breeder selling puppies at retail also needs the county vendor's license for its taxable sales, and rabies vaccination recordkeeping runs through Summit County Public Health's Environmental Health Code 601 and OAC 3701-3-28 to 3701-3-30 rather than through this license.

Junk Yard License (junk yard outside a municipality)

A salvage or scrap operation on an unincorporated Summit County parcel is licensed by statute rather than by county ordinance. ORC 4737.07 provides that 'no person shall operate and maintain a junk yard outside of a municipality, except in zoned or unzoned industrial areas adjacent to the interstate or primary systems, without first obtaining a license to do so from the county auditor of the county in which such junk yard is located,' sets the fee at twenty-five dollars, expires the license 'on the first day of January following the date of issue,' and prices each annual renewal at ten dollars paid to the county auditor. 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.' A yard adjacent to the interstate or primary systems that sits inside a municipality is licensed instead by that municipality's chief executive officer, and the statute makes its license additional to any municipal requirement. The statute assigns the function to the county auditor, whose statutory duties in Summit County sit with the Fiscal Officer under the charter. The Fiscal Office's published Services & Licensing menu runs dog licensing, dog search, vendor licensing, manufactured homes, fuel quality testing, firewood licensing, cigarette licensing, kennel licensing, weights & measures and state issued licensing, and junk yard licensing is not among those menu items, so this record rests on the statute rather than on a county page and an operator should approach the Fiscal Office directly about the filing. Codified Ordinances Chapter 743 is a different thing: it runs to two sections and imposes a record-book duty on every person dealing in scrap iron, metal, waste materials, junk or other secondhand articles, with a penalty section, rather than creating a license or a charge. An ordinary auto-repair shop doing mechanical work is outside this license unless it also operates as a salvage yard on the premises.

Retail Cigarette Dealer's License

A convenience store, grocery, gas station, bar, coffee shop or repair-shop counter selling cigarettes at retail in Summit County needs this license for each physical location. The Fiscal Office issues it in the county auditor's statutory role and states on its own cigarette licensing page that 'cigarette dealer licenses can be obtained at the Summit County Fiscal Office; the license must be renewed annually in May with a new application,' and that 'the new annual fee on all retail cigarette licenses will be $125 per physical location. There will no longer be a fee reduction for more than five licenses issued in a single county.' The figure is statutory rather than county-set: ORC 5743.15(B)(1) provides that 'every person desiring to engage in the retail business of trafficking in cigarettes shall pay an application fee in the sum of one hundred twenty-five dollars for each physical place where the person proposes to carry on such business.' The same section runs the license year from 1 June, prorates a license issued after that date down to a floor of $25 in any one year, and prices a duplicate license and an in-county transfer of location at $5 each. This license is separate from, and additional to, the county vendor's license a cigarette retailer also needs for its taxable sales.

Contact

Jurisdiction: Summit County
Phone: 330-630-7233
Website: fiscaloffice.summitoh.net/

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.

Charter of the County of Summit, Article I §1.01 (concurrent exercise of municipal powers) and §1.02 (in a conflict, the exercise of powers by the municipality or township prevails)Summit County, Ohio (American Legal Publishing) · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
Cigarette Licensing — the Summit County Fiscal Office's own page: 'The new annual fee on all retail cigarette licenses will be $125 per physical location,' renewed annually in May with a new applicationSummit County Fiscal Office · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
Environmental Health Codes — Summit County Public Health's index of its EH Codes, including Code 901 (swimming pools, spas and special use pools) and its published copy of Summit County Codified Ordinances Chapter 749Summit County Public Health · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
Firewood Licensing — the Summit County Fiscal Office's own page, listing firewood licensing among its services and stating 'All persons selling firewood must also obtain a vendors license'Summit County Fiscal Office · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
Kennel License application — Summit County Fiscal Office: $80.00 per kennel license including five tags if purchased by January 31, $160.00 (fee plus statutory penalty, a flat amount that is not prorated) after January 31, and $8.00 per additional tagSummit County Fiscal Office · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
Kennel Licensing — the Summit County Fiscal Office's own page: 'Kennel licenses can only be purchased at our Services Department … or you can mail your completed application and the appropriate fee'Summit County Fiscal Office · 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 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
ORC 955.04 — kennel registration, $10 base fee 'unless a greater fee has been established under section 955.14,' January 31 filing deadline and penaltyOhio Legislative Service Commission · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-29
ORC 955.14 — authority of a county's board of county commissioners to increase dog and kennel registration fees by resolutionOhio Legislative Service Commission · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-29
Summit County Codified Ordinances Chapter 733, §§733.03–733.99 — including §733.13 requiring the license number in every advertisementSummit County, Ohio (American Legal Publishing) · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
Summit County Codified Ordinances Chapter 733, Firewood Sales, §§733.01–733.08 — §733.03 and §733.04 sale by the cord and prohibited terms, §733.05 delivery ticket, §733.06 license requirement, §733.08 '$25.00' fee and annual December 31 expirySummit County, Ohio (American Legal Publishing) · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
Summit County Codified Ordinances Chapter 749, §§749.05–749.10 — §749.05(b) one-year establishment permit term and re-issuance, §749.07 $85.00 non-refundable masseur/masseuse filing fee, §749.09(b) one-year individual permit termSummit County, Ohio (American Legal Publishing) · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
Summit County Codified Ordinances Chapter 749, §§749.16–749.99 — §749.21 exemption for hospitals, nursing homes, sanitaria, licensed massotherapists, healing-arts certificate holders and licensed barbers and cosmetologists; §749.23 appointment-book recordsSummit County, Ohio (American Legal Publishing) · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
Summit County Codified Ordinances Chapter 749, Massage Establishments, §§749.01–749.04 — §749.02 permit requirement from the Auditor after Health Officer approval, §749.03(a) $185.00 non-refundable filing fee, §749.03(b) five-day referral to Fire, Health, Building Inspection and PoliceSummit County, Ohio (American Legal Publishing) · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
Vendor Licensing — the Summit County Fiscal Office's own page: 'A vendor's license authorizes a business to engage in tangible retail sales and charge sales tax. A license is required for each location of operation within the county,' with the form ST-1 fee stated as $50Summit County Fiscal Office · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
Weights & Measures — the Summit County Fiscal Office's own page: the Division tests scales, gas pumps, scanning systems, timing meters and platform scales, inspects packaged goods and examines the method of sale on items such as firewood; contact 330-630-7233, services@summitoh.netSummit County Fiscal Office · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30

Other offices serving Summit County

The full permit list for this jurisdiction

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