Morgantown
City of Morgantown, Finance Department
In short
City of Morgantown, Finance Department issues 8 permits we publish for Morgantown, last verified 2026-09-11. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Auto Repair Shop Municipal License (not found)only if it applies to you | City of Morgantown, Finance Department | No fee | not applicable | 2026-09-11 |
| Veterinary Facility Municipal License (not found)only if it applies to you | City of Morgantown, Finance Department | No fee | not applicable | 2026-09-11 |
| Fitness Studio/Gym Municipal License (not found)only if it applies to you | City of Morgantown, Finance Department | No fee | not applicable | 2026-09-11 |
| Salon/Barber/Cosmetology Municipal License (not found)only if it applies to you | City of Morgantown, Finance Department | No fee | not applicable | 2026-09-11 |
| Contractor Registration (Municipal Business License) | City of Morgantown, Finance Department | $20 annual, flat | annual — fiscal year, expires June 30 | 2026-09-11 |
| Municipal Business License | City of Morgantown, Finance Department | $20 annual, flat | annual — fiscal year, expires June 30; renewal due by July 1 | 2026-09-11 |
| Business and Occupation (B&O) Tax | City of Morgantown, Finance Department | No fee | not stated in the published fee schedule | 2026-09-11 |
| Municipal Service Fee | City of Morgantown, Finance Department | No fee | not stated in the published fee schedule | 2026-09-11 |
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
Auto Repair Shop Municipal License (not found)
No fee applies. The City's own current Municipal Business License Application lists a complete, fixed set of B&O business classifications (Contracting, Manufacturing, Retail, Restaurant, Wholesale, Rental, Service, Utility, Banking or Other Financial Institution, Amusements, Other), and none of them is auto-repair-specific — an auto repair shop is simply classified as 'Service.' The Zoning Code separately defines 'AUTOMOTIVE REPAIR SHOP' and a distinct 'Automobile Repair Shop, Incidental' use-table entry purely as land-use categories carrying permitted/conditional status by zoning district, not as a licensed business type. An auto repair shop's Morgantown-specific obligations are otherwise the same Municipal Business License, B&O Tax, Municipal Service Fee, and Certificate of Occupancy requirements recorded elsewhere in this file.
Veterinary Facility Municipal License (not found)
No fee applies. The City's own current business-license classification list has no veterinary-specific category anywhere in it. The Zoning Code's own definition of 'VETERINARY CLINIC' (a use 'intended or used primarily for the testing and treatment of animals on an emergency or outpatient basis') expressly excludes 'the boarding or training of animals, except for medical purposes' and excludes 'outdoor runs or kennels,' which instead fall under the separately defined 'KENNEL, COMMERCIAL' (four or more dogs or small animals kept on one lot) — genuine zoning-level findings, but not a licensed business type or fee. West Virginia's own state Veterinary Facility Registration, recorded at the state layer, remains the real trade-specific credential; a Morgantown veterinary practice's local obligations are otherwise the same Municipal Business License, B&O Tax, Municipal Service Fee, and Certificate of Occupancy requirements recorded elsewhere in this file.
Fitness Studio/Gym Municipal License (not found)
No fee applies. The City's own current business-license classification list has no gym- or fitness-specific category anywhere in it. The Zoning Code's own use table has no 'gymnasium,' 'health club,' or 'fitness studio' category by that name; the closest listed use, 'RECREATION FACILITY, COMMERCIAL, INDOOR' (defined to include 'training studios for martial arts, gymnastics and dance,' bowling alleys, shooting ranges, and skating rinks among similar enclosed leisure uses), carries permitted or conditional status depending on zoning district. A fitness studio's Morgantown-specific obligations are otherwise the same Municipal Business License, B&O Tax, Municipal Service Fee, and Certificate of Occupancy requirements recorded elsewhere in this file.
Salon/Barber/Cosmetology Municipal License (not found)
No fee applies. Unlike Charleston, which still enforces a genuine 1938-era Barbers and Beauticians ordinance pricing a $2.00 individual license and a $20.00 shop license, Morgantown has no equivalent ordinance: the City's own current business-license classification list has no barber, beautician, or cosmetology category, and no dedicated barber/salon ordinance page or PDF is published on the City's own site. The Zoning Code's own 'BARBER SHOP / BEAUTY SALON' definition is folded into the broader 'PERSONAL SERVICES ESTABLISHMENT' land-use category (alongside beauty parlors and shoe repair shops) rather than treated as a licensed business type. This project treats this as a genuine, confirmed difference from Charleston rather than an unchecked assumption — though, as with the auto-repair, veterinary, and fitness-studio records above, this project could not directly inspect a complete codified table of contents for Morgantown's own Part Seven (Business and Taxation Code) to rule out a long-dormant, unadministered chapter (see this file's Access Note). A salon's Morgantown-specific obligations are otherwise the same Municipal Business License, B&O Tax, Municipal Service Fee, and Certificate of Occupancy requirements recorded elsewhere in this file, plus the Home Occupation Permit above if operated from a home.
Contractor Registration (Municipal Business License)
The City's own current Municipal Business License Application asks a contracting applicant to check 'Contracting,' select a B&O filing method ('Quarterly' or 'By the Job'), and enter a 'WV Contractor's License Number' — meaning Morgantown, unlike Huntington (which folded a formerly separate Contractor License into its general license only as of June 2021), appears never to have priced a distinct local contractor product at all. The same $20.00 Municipal Business License recorded above, with the contractor's state license number attached, is what Morgantown adds locally on top of West Virginia's own state Contractor Licensing Board fee recorded at the state layer.
Municipal Business License
Every business operating in Morgantown must first obtain a West Virginia state business registration, then complete the City's own Municipal Business License Application and pay this flat $20.00 fee (a Non-Profit Organization license is the identical $20.00), renewed annually by June 30. The Code of the City of Morgantown, Section 751.01(b), read directly, states the fee in the ordinance's own text: 'Any person required to obtain a municipal business license shall pay an annual general municipal business license tax of $20.00.' Section 751.02(a) separately requires every person to 'apply for and obtain a business license prior to engaging in or prosecuting any business activity within the City,' and Section 751.01(a) exempts an independent contractor or sole proprietor who earns less than $2,500.00 in annual gross revenue and has no permanent physical location within city limits from the requirement entirely. Any new license application for a business with a physical location inside city limits must also include the Certificate of Occupancy issued by Development Services (recorded separately below).
Business and Occupation (B&O) Tax
The City's own current Municipal Business License Application states directly, in capital letters, that 'THE CITY LEVIES A BUSINESS AND OCCUPATION TAX ON ALL GROSS INCOME GENERATED FROM THE BUSINESS ACTIVITY,' and the same form lists every B&O classification a business may select (Contracting, Manufacturing, Retail, Restaurant, Wholesale, Rental, Service, Utility, Banking or Other Financial Institution, Amusements, Other) with a choice of Quarterly or By-the-Job filing for contractors. This is a mandatory tax, but the specific percentage rate by classification is not published in text form: the City's own current Annual, Quarterly, and By-the-Job B&O Tax Return forms are each a scanned, image-only PDF with no text layer, so no rate is stated here. Ask the City for the rate that applies to a business's classification.
Municipal Service Fee
The City's own current Municipal Business License Application and its own Licensing overview page both confirm, in the same capitalized language as the B&O Tax, that 'THE CITY IMPOSES A MUNICIPAL SERVICE FEE ON ALL EMPLOYEES AND SELF-EMPLOYED OWNERS WORKING WITHIN THE CITY LIMITS' — a separate, mandatory per-worker fee of the same kind Charleston ($3.00/week) and Huntington ($5.00/week) charge. Morgantown's own dollar amount is not published on either page, and the only documents that might state it (the scanned B&O Tax Return forms described in the B&O Tax record) have no text layer, so no amount is stated here. Ask the City for the current weekly amount.
Contact
- Jurisdiction
- Morgantown
- Phone
- (304) 284-7408
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.
- 2019 Planning and Zoning Code, City of Morgantown (current through Ordinance 2025-21) — the City's own complete current zoning text, including Section 1315.03 (subdivision filing fees, referencing the City's own Plan Review and Permitting Fee Schedule), Section 1331.06(19) (Day Care Facility Class 2/3 as a home-occupation conditional use), Table 1369.06.01 (sign permits, the $250 building-permit threshold), Section 1379.02 (Conditional Use filing fee), Section 1381.02 (variance fee), and the Definitions article (Automotive Repair Shop, Veterinary Clinic, Barber Shop/Beauty Salon, Personal Services Establishment, Recreation Facility Commercial Indoor, Kennel Commercial, Home Occupation)City of Morgantown, Planning Division · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-11
- Business & Occupation Tax Returns — the City's own current page linking the Annual, Quarterly, and By-the-Job B&O Tax Return forms, each published only as a scanned, non-text-searchable PDFCity of Morgantown, Finance Department · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-11
- Code of the City of Morgantown, Part Seven — Business and Taxation Code, Chapter Three — License Taxes and Service Charges, Article 751 — General License Taxes (version current through Ordinance No. 2025-20, June 17, 2025) — the City's own codified ordinance text, Section 751.01(b) pricing the general municipal business license tax at a flat $20.00 annually, Section 751.01(a) exempting an independent contractor or sole proprietor earning under $2,500.00/year with no permanent physical location in the City, and Section 751.02 requiring a license before engaging in any business activityCity of Morgantown, West Virginia (Code of Ordinances, via Municode) · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Code of the City of Morgantown, West Virginia — top-level table of contents confirming nine Parts including Part Seven (Business and Taxation Code) and Part Thirteen (Planning and Zoning Code); codified through Ordinance No. 2025-21 (June 17, 2025)City of Morgantown, West Virginia (Code of Ordinances, via Municode) · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-11
- Licensing — the City's own current overview confirming the Municipal Business License, B&O Tax, and Municipal Service Fee, and describing the Hawker/Peddler licenseCity of Morgantown · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-11
- Municipal Business License Application (Revised 9/1/2022) — the City's own current fillable form, pricing the license at $20.00, listing every B&O business classification, and stating the Municipal Service Fee applies to all employees and self-employed ownersCity of Morgantown, Finance Department · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-11
- Steps to Starting Your Business — the City's own current guide, pricing the Certificate of Occupancy at $65.00 and describing the zoning, state license, municipal license, and Certificate of Occupancy sequenceCity of Morgantown · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-11
Other offices serving Morgantown
The full permit list for this jurisdiction
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West Virginia jurisdictions
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