Burlington
City of Burlington Clerk/Treasurer's Office
In short
City of Burlington Clerk/Treasurer's Office issues 4 permits we publish for Burlington, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Business License — Burlington Position (24 V.S.A. § 2291)only if it applies to you | City of Burlington Clerk/Treasurer's Office | No fee | not applicable | 2026-09-14 |
| Entertainment Permit (live music at a licensed premises)only if it applies to you | City of Burlington Clerk/Treasurer's Office | An annual entertainment permit is $100.00, paid to the city clerk when the council grants it. A permit for a single performance only is $25.00, and a special events umbrella permit is also $25.00. | annual, effective May 1 and expiring April 30 each year | 2026-09-14 |
| Food Service Establishment License — Vermont Department of Health (Burlington) | City of Burlington Clerk/Treasurer'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. From the Department's own current application: a commercial caterer is $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 |
| Peddler License (the food truck license) | City of Burlington Clerk/Treasurer's Office | A general peddler license is $100.00 per year or $15.00 per month, and a vehicle license endorsement — which a food truck needs — is an additional $300.00 per year or $30.00 per month or any part of a month. A Central Peddling District license is $300.00 per year, $200.00 for six months or $60.00 per month or any part of a month. University Place is $100.00 per year plus the $300.00 vehicle endorsement. A peddler selling food must also lodge a $100.00 deposit with the city clerk to ensure the peddling area is kept clean. A background check consent form carries a $45.00 fee per person. Applications submitted after June 1 carry a $30.00 late fee, and a refused application is refunded less a $5.00 processing fee. | annual, issued from June 1 with renewals due by May 15; licenses expire May 31 | 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
General Business License — Burlington Position (24 V.S.A. § 2291)
No fee applies: under 24 V.S.A. § 2291, Burlington has no power to require a general business license. This is a statutory ceiling rather than a policy choice: 24 V.S.A. § 2291 enumerates municipal powers and grants only two that touch business licensing, subsection (9) for itinerant vendors, peddlers and those selling from a vehicle, and subsection (11) for circuses, carnivals and paid entertainments. Anything broader needs special charter authority, which Burlington does not have for general licensing. The Clerk's own Business Licenses index accordingly lists four things and no more — cannabis, liquor, peddler and taxi. Chapter 19 of the Code, headed LICENSES, is purely procedural: §19-2 provides that 'The provisions of this chapter shall apply to and govern the issuance of any license required by this Code,' creating nothing itself. The City's own forty-three page Doing Business in Burlington guide never uses the phrase 'business license.' Of the ten industries this site tracks, only a food truck needs a Burlington license, and it needs a peddler license rather than a business license. What reaches everyone else is zoning, building and fire, listed separately for this jurisdiction.
Entertainment Permit (live music at a licensed premises)
This is the second of Burlington's two statutorily-permitted licensing powers in action, and it reaches restaurants and cafés more often than operators expect: it is required for live music at any first or third class liquor licensee. Section 19-18(b) sets the amounts — 'A fee of one hundred dollars ($100.00) shall be paid to the city clerk on the granting of an entertainment permit by the council. An applicant requesting a permit for one (1) performance only, shall pay a fee of twenty-five dollars ($25.00)… A permit fee of twenty-five dollars ($25.00) shall be charged for a special events umbrella permit.' The permit year runs May 1 to April 30, out of step with both the City's July fiscal year and the peddler license year, so an operator holding several city permits juggles three different renewal dates.
Food Service Establishment License — Vermont Department of Health (Burlington)
Under 18 V.S.A. ch. 85, restaurants in Vermont's largest city are licensed and inspected by the State rather than the City: the chapter contains no municipal delegation provision of the kind Maine has at 22 M.R.S.A. § 2499 or North Dakota operates by Memorandum of Understanding. Section 4351(a) requires the license from the Commissioner; § 4306(a) makes enforcement the Commissioner's duty; and local health officers refer rather than license, § 602a(b) directing that on discovering a violation involving 'a food or lodging establishment… the local health officer shall immediately notify the Division of Environmental Health.' Burlington's own business guide says the same: 'The Vermont Department of Health licenses and inspects food and lodging establishments throughout the state.' What the City does require of a restaurant is the zoning permit, the zoning certificate of occupancy, building and trade permits, fire inspection, gross receipts tax registration, local approval of any liquor license, and an entertainment permit if there is live music. One archaic city license survives and is recorded here as background rather than as a live obligation for most food businesses: Code §17-7(c) still prices a milk distributor's license at $25.00 per year and an incidental retail milk distributor's license at $5.00, issued by the board of health and expiring the last day of May.
Peddler License (the food truck license)
Among the ten industries this site tracks, this is the one license Burlington issues, and it exists because 24 V.S.A. § 2291(9) specifically authorises it. The cost for a food truck is the general license plus the vehicle endorsement — $400.00 for a year — plus the refundable $100.00 cleanliness deposit and $45.00 per person for background checks. Two practical constraints matter more than the fee. First, location: the Central Peddling District and University Place are currently closed to new applicants, so a new operator is limited to general peddling locations. Second, the Church Street Marketplace is governed separately under §23-15 and requires its own certificate. The ordinance leaves the fee to the Church Street Marketplace Commission — 'The fee, method of application, and design requirement for stands or carts shall also be determined annually by the commission' — and fixes only a $50.00 deposit for annual and seasonal certificates. For the May 1, 2026 to April 30, 2027 term, the Marketplace's own Terms and Conditions of Marketplace Peddling set the annual cart fee at $2,400.00 for a food cart on the City Hall block, $1,800.00 for a food cart between College and Cherry Streets, $1,500.00 for a retail cart south of Cherry Street, $1,200.00 for any cart north of Cherry Street and $750.00 for an artisan cart, due in full on June 1; its Program Overview states that the Commission 'makes the final decision on fees,' and each cart occupies a ten-square-foot space on the Marketplace bricks under a one-year license applied for afresh each year. The City's own Vendor Opportunities page lists the programme and links to these terms, though its one-line summary gives the range as '$740 to $2,400' where both the 2025-26 and 2026-27 terms print $750.00 as the lowest rate. Insurance of at least $100,000 public liability and $25,000 property damage is required. A food truck separately holds the Vermont Department of Health mobile unit license at $260.00, listed in the state food license record for Burlington.
Contact
- Jurisdiction
- Burlington
- Phone
- (802) 865-7000
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.
- 2026 Cart Vendor Program Overview — the one-year term May 1, 2026 to April 30, 2027, the Church Street Marketplace Commission's role ('The Commission makes the final decision on fees, placement, and vendor acceptance'), the ten-square-foot vending space and the annual applicationCity of Burlington, Church Street Marketplace Department · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-18
- 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 Licenses — the Clerk/Treasurer's own current index, listing the only four licenses the City issues (cannabis, liquor, peddler, taxi) and establishing that Burlington has no general business licenseCity of Burlington · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-14
- Code of Ordinances, City of Burlington, current through Ord. 7-15-26 — Chapter 8 §8-28 (building permit fee and minimum), Chapter 12 §12-26 (electrical), Chapter 19 §§19-2 and 19-18 (licenses and entertainment permits), Chapter 13 §13-22 (fire re-inspection fees), Chapter 23 §23-6 (peddler license fees) and Chapter 25 §25-12 (plumbing)City of Burlington, 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
- Peddler Licenses — the City's own current page, giving the $45.00 per person background check fee, the insurance minimums, the University Place rate, the May 31 expiry and the closure of the Central Peddling District and University Place to new applicantsCity of Burlington Clerk/Treasurer's Office · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-14
- Terms and Conditions of Marketplace Peddling, Cart Vendor Program 2026-2027 — section 1 (Fees): Food Carts (City Hall Block) $2,400, Food Carts (Between College St & Cherry St) $1,800, Retail Carts (south of Cherry St) $1,500, All Carts north of Cherry St $1,200, Artisan Carts $750, 'due in full on June 1st'City of Burlington, Church Street Marketplace Department · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Vendor Opportunities — the Community & Economic Development Office's own page, listing the Church Street Marketplace Cart Vendor Program (period May 1 - April 30) and linking to the Marketplace's own cart vendor terms and conditionsCity of Burlington, Community & Economic Development Office · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-18
Other offices serving Burlington
The full permit list for this jurisdiction
Industry permit lists that include this agency
Vermont jurisdictions
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