Rutland
City of Rutland Clerk's Office
In short
City of Rutland Clerk's Office issues 8 permits we publish for Rutland, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fitness Studio — City of Rutland Positiononly if it applies to you | City of Rutland Clerk's Office | No fee | not applicable | 2026-09-14 |
| Peddler, Solicitor and Transient Merchant License (the food truck license; fee not published) | City of Rutland Clerk's Office | No fee | four terms are offered — annual, six months, three day and one day — with all Title 11 licenses expiring on the May 1 following issue under §1511 | 2026-09-14 |
| Auto Repair Shop — City of Rutland Position (gasoline service station chapter repealed)only if it applies to you | City of Rutland Clerk's Office | No fee | not applicable | 2026-09-14 |
| Salon and Barber Shop — State License Applies (Rutland)only if it applies to you | City of Rutland Clerk's Office | No fee | not applicable | 2026-09-14 |
| Restaurant and Victualing Establishment License | City of Rutland Clerk's Office | On the City's own e-forms fee table a restaurant license is $65.00 for a new application and $40.00 to renew. The same table lists 'Business with Lunchroom' and 'Victualing Establishment' as separate rows priced 'N/A,' so which line applies to a business that is not plainly a restaurant is not resolved by the published table. A business carrying on several licensed activities at once takes a blank license, priced on the table as 'Determined on an Individual Basis.' All figures carry the City's own disclaimer that they are an estimate pending departmental review. | the license year runs May 1 to April 30 — §1511 provides that all Title 11 licenses continue in force until the first day of May next following the date of issue | 2026-09-14 |
| Food Service Establishment License (state-issued, in addition to the city victualing license) | City of Rutland Clerk's Office | Set by statute at 18 V.S.A. § 4353(a)(1) and charged by the Vermont Department of Health, scaled by seating: $105.00 for 0 to 25 seats, $180.00 for 26 to 50, $300.00 for 51 to 100, $385.00 for 101 to 200, $450.00 for 201 to 599 and $1,000.00 for 600 or more. A home caterer is $155.00, a commercial caterer $260.00, a mobile unit $260.00, a push cart $260.00 and a limited operation $140.00. | annual, issued by the Vermont Department of Health | 2026-09-14 |
| Veterinary Practice — State License Applies (Rutland)only if it applies to you | City of Rutland Clerk's Office | No fee | not applicable | 2026-09-14 |
| Entertainment Club Permitonly if it applies to you | City of Rutland Clerk's Office | $50 per permit, paid to the City Clerk on the granting of the permit by the Board of Aldermen | under §1511 all Title 11 licenses continue in force until the first day of May following issue | 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
Fitness Studio — City of Rutland Position
No city fee applies for fitness studio licensing. In the Rutland City Code on eCode360, Title 11 Chapter 3 licenses bowling alleys, shooting galleries and indoor skating rinks — three named recreational uses — and the chapter names no gym, so a fitness studio falls outside the Title 11 chapter list even though adjacent recreation businesses fall inside it. The Land Development Regulations treat it as the zoning use 'Recreation Facility, Indoor.' A studio's city obligations are the zoning permit, the building permit for fit-out and the sign permit. Because the Division of Fire Safety's list of municipal inspection agreements does not include Rutland City, any construction goes to the state Division of Fire Safety for plan review at $8.00 per $1,000 of project valuation.
Peddler, Solicitor and Transient Merchant License (the food truck license; fee not published)
The fee for this license is not published in the Code, on the City Clerk's pages or in the City's e-forms fee table, although the license is mandatory for a food truck; contact the City Clerk's office for the current amount. Section 2071 makes it unlawful to peddle without one and the definition expressly reaches an 'automotive vehicle, or any other type of conveyance' selling 'popcorn, ice cream, sodas, or other refreshments of like character.' Four terms are offered — annual, six months, three day and one day — but no peddler row appears in the City's e-forms fee table, which is the only place any Title 11 fee is published, and no amount appears on the Clerk's pages or in the Code. Section 1512 explains why: the fee list is 'posted in the office of the city clerk' rather than online. The Code sets out the surrounding rules. Section 2073 exempts sellers of 'newspapers, ice, bread, pastry, wood, milk or products of the land.' Section 2074 exempts religious, charitable and educational organisations from any fee. Section 2080 bars transient merchants from public streets and bars peddlers from metered parking spaces, which materially limits where a truck may trade. A food truck separately holds the Vermont Department of Health mobile unit license at $260.00.
Auto Repair Shop — City of Rutland Position (gasoline service station chapter repealed)
No city fee applies for auto repair licensing: in the Rutland City Code on eCode360, Title 11 Chapter 9, which licensed gasoline service stations, is annotated 'Repealed by No. 185,' and Title 11's chapter list contains no auto repair chapter. A shop's city obligations are the zoning permit, the building permit for fit-out, the sign permit at $50.00 plus $25.00 per sign, and state Division of Fire Safety review for any construction. Two retail-adjacent chapters were repealed in the same sweep and are noted here for the same pattern: Chapter 15 on jewelry sales at public auction and Chapter 17 on meat selling and slaughtering, both 'Repealed by No. 185,' and Title 17's food and meat chapters, both 'Repealed by No. 203.'
Salon and Barber Shop — State License Applies (Rutland)
No city fee applies for salon licensing: the chapter list of Title 11 (Business Licenses and Registration) of the Rutland City Code on eCode360 contains no salon, barber or cosmetology chapter — notable given that the same Title 11 does license bowling alleys, shooting galleries, pool rooms and coin machines, so the omission reflects what the charter list covers rather than an incomplete code. Practitioners and shops are regulated by the Vermont Office of Professional Regulation. A salon's city obligations are the zoning permit, including the $0.20 per square foot change of use component, the building permit and the sign permit.
Restaurant and Victualing Establishment License
Rutland's charter lets it license restaurants, a power beyond the two licensing powers 24 V.S.A. § 2291 gives ordinary Vermont municipalities. The requirement is unambiguous and the City states it plainly on its own page: 'If you are interested in opening a restaurant, bar, deli, hotel or want to have a circus, show or carnival or a peddler's license, you must obtain a business from our office.' Two caveats are recorded rather than smoothed over. First, sourcing: §1512 provides, verbatim, that 'License fees shall be set by the board of aldermen. A license fee shall be established for new licenses and renewal licenses. A new license fee shall include an additional amount for background check, police investigation and processing. A current list of fees will be posted in the office of the city clerk.' That list is not published online, and the Code (current through 11-17-2025) states no amounts, so the $65.00 and $40.00 figures come from the City's own GovPilot e-forms application, which labels them an estimate. A new license is dearer than a renewal by design, because §1512 folds the background check and police investigation into the new-license fee. Note also the term: licenses under Title 11 'shall continue and be in force until the first day of May next following the date thereof, unless otherwise provided in the fee schedule,' with a pro-rated fee for licenses issued on or after January 1 for the remainder of the license year. Second, classification: the same table prices 'Restaurant' but marks 'Business with Lunchroom' and 'Victualing Establishment' as N/A, so the published table does not place a coffee shop or deli on a specific line; the restaurant figure is shown here, and a lighter food business should confirm its classification with the City Clerk's office. A change of ownership counts as a new license and triggers a police background investigation; the City's older published background-check figure of $30.00 has been removed from the live page and is not recorded here. Separately and in addition, the establishment holds a Vermont Department of Health food license, recorded as a separate entry.
Food Service Establishment License (state-issued, in addition to the city victualing license)
A Rutland restaurant holds two food-related credentials rather than one: the City's own Title 11 victualing license, recorded above, and this state license. The city license is a business license granted by the license board; the state license is the food safety instrument, and Vermont does not delegate it — 18 V.S.A. ch. 85 vests licensing in the Commissioner with no municipal delegation mechanism. Rutland does have a City Health Officer, sitting within the Building Department, but the role refers rather than licenses: 18 V.S.A. § 602a(b) requires a local health officer discovering a violation involving a food establishment to notify the state Division of Environmental Health immediately. A retail store falls within this record only where it sells food.
Veterinary Practice — State License Applies (Rutland)
No city fee applies for veterinary licensing: the chapter list of Title 11 (Business Licenses and Registration) of the Rutland City Code on eCode360 contains no veterinary chapter, and Title 13 (Dogs and Other Animals) deals with dogs and animal control rather than with veterinary premises. Practitioners are licensed by the Vermont Office of Professional Regulation. A clinic's city obligations are the zoning permit, the building permit for fit-out and the sign permit.
Entertainment Club Permit
The fee is small but the pre-conditions are substantial, and they reach a restaurant adding live entertainment. Section 1532 conditions the grant on a Building Inspector inspection, a Fire Department fire code inspection, and a Treasurer's statement that the applicant's rooms, meals and entertainment taxes, water and sewer fees and parking fines are all paid. The Treasurer's clearance is the one most likely to delay an application, because Rutland administers its own local meals, rooms and entertainment taxes monthly rather than leaving them to the State, so an establishment behind on a monthly filing cannot obtain the permit until it is current.
Contact
- Jurisdiction
- Rutland
- Phone
- (802) 773-1800
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.
- 24 V.S.A. ch. 61, § 2291 (Enumeration of powers) — the statute limiting Vermont municipalities to licensing itinerant vendors and peddlers under subsection (9) and circuses, shows and paid entertainments under subsection (11)Vermont General Assembly · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-14
- Business Licensing — the City's own current page confirming that the Rutland business license cycle runs May 1 to April 30 and that a restaurant, bar, deli, hotel, circus, show, carnival or peddler must obtain a license from the Clerk's officeCity of Rutland · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-14
- City of Rutland e-forms portal (GovPilot, the City's contracted permit vendor, linked from the City's Clerk, Building and Building Permits pages) — the Business Registration form, the only publication anywhere of the Title 11 licence fee amounts, carrying the City's own disclaimer that the fees are an estimate pending departmental reviewCity of Rutland · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-14
- Code of the City of Rutland, eCode360 RU1248, including legislation through 11-17-2025 — Title 11 (Business Licenses and Registration), including §1510 constituting the license board, §1511 fixing the May 1 expiry, §1512 the fee-setting power, §1534 the entertainment club permit fee, §2071 the peddler requirement and §2261 the restaurant and victualing license; Title 12 §2403 the local meals, rooms and entertainment taxes; Title 15 §2741 fire department cost recoveryCity of Rutland, codified by General Code · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-14
- Food and Lodging — the Vermont Department of Health's own current page for the statewide licensing of restaurants, food service establishments and mobile units under 18 V.S.A. ch. 85, the license Burlington businesses hold in place of any city food licenseVermont Department of Health · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-14
Other offices serving Rutland
The full permit list for this jurisdiction
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Vermont jurisdictions
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