Aberdeen
City of Aberdeen Finance Office
In short
City of Aberdeen Finance Office issues 8 permits we publish for Aberdeen, last verified 2026-09-14. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home Day Care License and Special Exception | City of Aberdeen Finance Office | Under §14-128 a day care license is $200.00 for a new license and $100.00 for a renewal, each covering a two-year period. A special exception from the Board of Adjustment under §14-135 is a separate $200.00 application. State licensing or registration by the South Dakota Department of Social Services applies in addition where the format and child count reach the state threshold. | two years | 2026-09-14 |
| Food Service Establishment License (State-issued; no municipal food license) | City of Aberdeen Finance Office | Set by statute at SDCL 34-18-11 rather than by the City, and banded by the number of employees: $30.00 for an establishment with three or fewer employees, $50.00 for four to ten, $75.00 for eleven to twenty-five and $100.00 for more than twenty-five. A temporary food service establishment license is $30.00. Aberdeen charges nothing for a food license because it issues none. | annual, on the South Dakota Department of Health's license year | 2026-09-14 |
| Transient Merchant License (the route a mobile vendor encounters)only if it applies to you | City of Aberdeen Finance Office | By duration under Chapter 38 (§38-34, which sets the per-day, per-week and per-month fees by the City's fee schedule) and the 2026 Fee Schedule: $43.00 per day, $117.00 per week or $234.00 per month. A $22.00 investigation fee applies to the application, and a $1,000.00 bond must be posted. A mobile food unit additionally needs the state food service establishment license under SDCL 34-18-11 at $30.00 to $100.00 by employee count. | one day, one week or one month as elected | 2026-09-14 |
| Fitness Studio Licensing — City of Aberdeen Positiononly if it applies to you | City of Aberdeen Finance Office | No fee | not applicable | 2026-09-14 |
| Salon and Barber Shop Licensing — State License Applies (Aberdeen)only if it applies to you | City of Aberdeen Finance Office | No fee | not applicable | 2026-09-14 |
| Auto Repair Shop Licensing — City of Aberdeen Positiononly if it applies to you | City of Aberdeen Finance Office | No fee | not applicable | 2026-09-14 |
| Veterinary Practice Licensing — State License Applies (Aberdeen)only if it applies to you | City of Aberdeen Finance Office | No fee | not applicable | 2026-09-14 |
| General Business License — City of Aberdeen Positiononly if it applies to you | City of Aberdeen Finance Office | No fee | not applicable to a general license | 2026-09-14 |
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
Home Day Care License and Special Exception
This is the one place Aberdeen regulates more tightly than the state's two larger cities, and the consequence is easy to miss: a home provider small enough to be exempt from South Dakota Department of Social Services registration is still licensed here. Two approvals are needed and they come from different bodies — the §14-128 license from the City and the §14-135 special exception from the Board of Adjustment — so the sequence and the calendar matter more than the money. The two-year term is unusual among the South Dakota cities covered here and makes the effective annual cost $100.00 for a new license and $50.00 on renewal, cheaper per year than the headline suggests. By contrast Rapid City imposes no municipal childcare license at all, and Sioux Falls charges $25.00 or $125.00 for a one-year registration depending on whether state registration is held.
Food Service Establishment License (State-issued; no municipal food license)
Aberdeen sits at the far end of the South Dakota spectrum on food: Sioux Falls runs its own health department and licenses, Rapid City delegates to the State by express ordinance, and Aberdeen's published Revised Ordinances have no food chapter, so the state license applies by default rather than by delegation. The practical effect is the same as Rapid City's — the license is the statutory one banded by employee count, inspections come from Pierre, and plan review for a new kitchen is a state process. What the City still controls is the building permit, the certificate of occupancy, the sign permit and the fire inspection, and for a restaurant serving alcohol, the municipal on-sale license, which is the largest single figure a new Aberdeen restaurant is likely to encounter.
Transient Merchant License (the route a mobile vendor encounters)
The transient merchant scheme is recorded here as the license a mobile food operator would encounter. The Revised Ordinances, as published, name no mobile food vending or food truck category of their own, so whether a given truck is treated as a transient merchant is a determination for the Finance Office rather than something the Code settles on its face. Anyone planning a route should ask that question first. The economics reward committing to a period — the 2026 Fee Schedule prices a day at $43.00, a week at $117.00 and a month at $234.00 — and the $1,000.00 bond plus $22.00 investigation fee are one-off costs on top. The state food license for the unit itself applies regardless of which municipal category applies.
Fitness Studio Licensing — City of Aberdeen Position
Revised Ordinances Chapter 14 (Businesses and Business Regulations), as published on the City's municode page, names no fitness, gym or health club license, so the City charges no fee for one. The building code is therefore the main City requirement, and it can be more demanding than the lack of a City license suggests: a studio's occupant load may push it into an assembly classification, changing exit, sprinkler and restroom requirements and turning a modest fit-out into a substantial one. Settle the occupancy classification with Building Inspection before signing a lease. Where the zoning district does not permit the use outright, a $200.00 special exception from the Board of Adjustment is the route.
Salon and Barber Shop Licensing — State License Applies (Aberdeen)
Revised Ordinances Chapter 14 (Businesses and Business Regulations), as published on the City's municode page, names no salon or barber shop license and creates no general business license, so the City charges no fee for one. The operative credentials are two-tier and both come from the State: the South Dakota Cosmetology Commission licenses the individual cosmetologist, nail technician or esthetician and separately licenses the salon premises, and barbering runs on a parallel track under the Board of Barber Examiners. A salon opening in Aberdeen deals with the City only for its building permit, certificate of occupancy, $50.00 sign permit and fire inspection — and, if the district does not permit the use outright, a $200.00 special exception. Nail salons should raise ventilation with Building Inspection early, since it is a mechanical code question that can change a fit-out budget.
Auto Repair Shop Licensing — City of Aberdeen Position
Revised Ordinances Chapter 14 (Businesses and Business Regulations), as published on the City's municode page, names no auto repair license, so the City charges no fee for one — the same position as Rapid City, and a contrast with Sioux Falls, which charges an annual fire license of $46.00 or $58.00 by bay count for the same premises. The obligations that do bind an Aberdeen shop sit in the fire, zoning and environmental layers: the $120.00 tank permit under Chapter 24 (Fire Prevention and Protection) where fuel or waste oil is stored above ground, a $200.00 special exception where the district treats repair as conditional rather than permitted, spray booth review under the building and fire codes, and South Dakota Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources rules on solvents and used oil. A shop that also sells vehicles needs a state dealer license under SDCL ch. 32-6B, with its own bonding and premises requirements.
Veterinary Practice Licensing — State License Applies (Aberdeen)
Revised Ordinances Chapter 14 (Businesses and Business Regulations), as published on the City's municode page, names no veterinary license and creates no general business license, so the City charges no fee for one. The credential is the individual veterinarian's state license from the Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners, which is a personal license rather than a premises one, and the clinic itself holds no City license. Its Aberdeen obligations are the building permit for fit-out, the certificate of occupancy, the $50.00 sign permit, the fire inspection and — where the district does not permit the use outright — a $200.00 special exception from the Board of Adjustment. A clinic adding boarding should check the Code's animal provisions, since kennel use is treated separately from veterinary practice in most South Dakota municipal codes.
General Business License — City of Aberdeen Position
Revised Ordinances Chapter 14 (Businesses and Business Regulations), as published on the City's municode page, creates no general license, so the City charges no fee for one: its articles are In General, Licenses (application, issuance, renewal, suspension and revocation procedure), Going-Out-of-Business Sales and Home Day Care, and its article list has no food, salon, cosmetology, veterinary, fitness or auto repair article. One figure is stated on its own terms: a 'Merchant License' at $225.00 new and $200.00 renewing appears on the City's own Ordinance No. 25-12-04, the 2026 Fee Schedule adopted December 22, 2025, as a line distinct from the Transient Merchant License, which the same schedule prices separately by duration ($43.00 per day up to $234.00 per month, plus a $22.00 investigation fee and $1,000.00 bond). Chapter 38 (Peddlers, Solicitors and Itinerant Merchants) defines and fees a 'transient merchant' or 'itinerant merchant' (synonyms under §38-1) through that same duration-based structure at §38-34. The flat annual Merchant License fee is recorded here as a distinctly priced line on the City's own fee schedule, which does not state which businesses it reaches; it is a reference point, not this record's governing fee. Anyone told they need it should ask the Finance Office for the ordinance section that imposes it.
Contact
- Jurisdiction
- Aberdeen
- Phone
- (605) 626-7025
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.
- Child Care Licensing and Registration — the South Dakota Department of Social Services' own current page setting out which child care formats require state licensing or registration and which are exemptSouth Dakota Department of Social Services · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-14
- City of Aberdeen Ordinance No. 25-12-04 — 2026 Fee Schedule, as adopted December 22, 2025, listing the Merchant License ($225.00 new / $200.00 annual renewal) and the Transient Merchant License (priced separately by day/week/month) as two distinct line itemsCity of Aberdeen · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Fire and Rescue — the department's own current page for fire prevention, commercial inspections and the permits the department issuesAberdeen Fire and Rescue · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-14
- Food and Lodging Safety licensure — the South Dakota Department of Health's own current page for the statewide food service establishment license under SDCL ch. 34-18, which applies alongside or in place of a municipal license depending on jurisdictionSouth Dakota Department of Health · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-14
- Licenses and Permits — the City of Aberdeen's own current page listing the licenses and permits the City issues and the departments that issue themCity of Aberdeen · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-14
- Planning and Zoning — the department's own current page for zoning administration, Board of Adjustment applications, variances, special exceptions and rezoningCity of Aberdeen Planning and Zoning Department · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-14
- Revised Ordinances of the City of Aberdeen — Chapter 14 (Businesses and Business Regulations, including Article II licence procedure, §14-128 home day care licences and §14-135 special exception), Chapter 12 (Buildings and Building Regulations, including contractor licensing and building permit fees), Chapter 42 (Signs), Chapter 60 (Zoning), Chapter 24 (Fire Prevention and Protection), Chapter 38 (Peddlers, Solicitors and Itinerant Merchants — §38-1 definitions, §38-29 transient and itinerant merchant applications and §38-34 fees) and §50-77 (municipal gross receipts tax)City of Aberdeen, codified by Municode · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-14
- SDCL 34-18-11 — the statutory food service establishment licence fee schedule set by the South Dakota Legislature, which governs in Rapid City because the municipal code defers to the state licenceSouth Dakota Legislature · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-14
- South Dakota Cosmetology Commission — the state body licensing cosmetologists, nail technicians, estheticians and salon premises under SDCL ch. 36-15, which is the operative credential in AberdeenSouth Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-14
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