12 published records
Business licenses and permits in Bellevue, Nebraska
The City's own Master Fee Schedule (Resolution 2025-01) lists no general business license and — unlike Lincoln or Omaha — no restaurant occupation tax: its occupation-tax section covers only liquor, natural gas, telephone, hotel and vending-machine occupation taxes, and Chapter 8.5's $25/year 'license and occupation tax' applies only within Business Improvement District boundaries, not citywide. The Nebraska Department of Agriculture, not a local health department, administers both the restaurant/coffee-shop food establishment permit and the mobile food unit permit directly here — confirmed from NDA's own inspection-areas page (Sarpy County is not among the counties forwarded to a local jurisdiction) and its own Mobile Food Establishment Ordinance Registry (which marks Bellevue as never having responded with a local ordinance) — while the Sarpy/Cass Health Department's own site redirects food and restaurant applicants straight to NDA. Bellevue does license a City Peddler/Mobile Vendor permit ($50/day or $300/year) that reaches food trucks as a genuine local layer distinct from the state food-safety process. The City's own Master Fee Schedule prices a full valuation-based Table 3-A building permit fee, a five-tier Class A-E contractor license, separate plumbing/mechanical/sewer trade licenses, a banded sign-permit fee, a $50 zoning verification letter, and Fire Department fees for Child Care Inspections ($40-$60) and Range Hood Fire Extinguishing systems ($10.65) — but names no local electrical-contractor registration fee, no Places-of-Assembly fire fee, and no repair-garage or salon/barbershop-specific municipal product.
What are you opening in Bellevue?
- RestaurantsFull-service restaurants carry the densest permit load of any small business: food, fire, occupancy, waste, and usually alcohol.See the full permit list
- Coffee shopsCafés are permitted as food service establishments even where no cooking happens, and the plan review step catches most operators by surprise.See the full permit list
- Retail storesRetail is the lightest common permit load, but the sales tax permit and the certificate of occupancy are non-negotiable in every jurisdiction.See the full permit list
- Salons and barbersPersonal care is licensed at state board level as well as locally, so the shop license and the practitioner licenses are separate obligations.See the full permit list
- Food trucksMobile food is the one category with no certificate of occupancy — but it gains a commissary agreement, and the unit itself is inspected rather than the premises.See the full permit list
- Fitness studiosPrepaid memberships trigger state registration and often a surety bond, which catches operators who budgeted only for the fit-out.See the full permit list
- Childcare centresThe heaviest permit load of any small business: state agency licensing, per-person background checks, and a stricter fire standard than ordinary commercial use.See the full permit list
- Contractors and tradesLicensed at state board level rather than locally, and the only common category with no premises permits at all — the bond is usually the long pole.See the full permit list
- Auto repair shopsOrdinary commercial permitting plus an environmental layer: waste oil, solvents and stormwater are each registered separately.See the full permit list
- Veterinary clinicsA state facility permit, controlled substances registration at both state and federal level, and a medical waste manifest — none of which a general business license covers.See the full permit list
Permits that apply to every type of business in Bellevue
| Permit | Issuing agency | Fee | Renews | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zoning Verification Letteronly if it applies to you | City of Bellevue, Nebraska, Planning Department | $50 per letter | one-time, per request | 2026-09-11 |
| General Business Licensing — City of Bellevue Master Fee Schedule Positiononly if it applies to you | City of Bellevue, Nebraska, Office of the City Clerk | No fee | not applicable | 2026-09-11 |
| Commercial Building Permit & Certificate of Occupancy | City of Bellevue, Nebraska, Permits & Inspections (Building Department) | Table 3-A of the 1997 Uniform Administrative Code (as amended, per the Master Fee Schedule), banded by project valuation: $1-$500 = $23.50 flat; $501-$2,000 = $23.50 plus $3.05 per $100 (or fraction) over $500; $2,001-$25,000 = $69.25 plus $14.00 per $1,000 (or fraction) over $2,000; $25,001-$50,000 = $391.75 plus $10.10 per $1,000 over $25,000; $50,001-$100,000 = $643.75 plus $7.00 per $1,000 over $50,000; $100,001-$500,000 = $993.75 plus $5.60 per $1,000 over $100,000; $500,001-$1,000,000 = $3,233.75 plus $4.75 per $1,000 over $500,000; over $1,000,000 = $5,608.75 plus $3.65 per $1,000 over $1,000,000. A commercial plan-review fee of 25% of the building permit fee applies on top of this for new construction. New commercial/civic/office construction separately triggers a $5,000.00-per-development-acre Arterial Street Improvement Program (ASIP) fee, and — only within the Papio Creek and South Sarpy Watershed boundaries — a $5,642.00-per-acre Papio Creek/South Sarpy Watershed Partnership fee (FY2024-2026 rate). | one-time, per project — 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.
What do these permits involve in Bellevue?
Zoning Verification Letter
A genuine, confirmed flat fee directly from the City's own Master Fee Schedule. The same schedule prices a Comprehensive Plan Amendment or Zoning Text Amendment at $500.00, a Change of Zone at $200.00-$550.00 by acreage, and a Conditional Use Permit at $175.00 (1 acre or less) or $325.00 (more than 1 acre) — relevant if a business's use requires more than a routine zoning check. The City prices no separate, discounted childcare-specific zoning letter the way Lincoln does; a Bellevue childcare provider pays this same general rate.
General Business Licensing — City of Bellevue Master Fee Schedule Position
The City charges no fee under this record. The City's own Master Fee Schedule lists only a short set of narrow occupation taxes — liquor license classes, natural gas distributors (3% of gross), telephone companies (6.25% of gross), hotel operators (5.5% of gross), and music/vending/amusement machines — with no restaurant, drinking-place or general food-sales tax of the kind Lincoln (2%) and Omaha (2.5%) both charge. Chapter 8.5's own $25.00 annual 'license and occupation tax' applies only to businesses located within a designated Business Improvement District's boundaries, not citywide, and funds local BID public-improvement projects rather than general city operations. A handful of narrow Temporary Business Licenses exist instead (Seasonal Merchant $25/one month or $50/four months; Itinerant Merchant/Peddler/Solicitor/Street Vendor/Transient Merchant/Mobile Vendor $50/day or $300/year; Carnival/Circus/Public Amusement Show $50/event plus $10/day per attraction) — none of them a universal operating license. A business still needs Nebraska Secretary of State entity registration and any applicable state license (both recorded at the state layer), plus whichever local building, zoning, fire and food-safety approvals apply below.
Commercial Building Permit & Certificate of Occupancy
The valuation-based fee table is published in the City's own separately hosted 'Building Permit Fees' PDF; the Master Fee Schedule references the table by name ('1997 Uniform Administrative Code fees as amended') without reprinting it. No standalone certificate-of-occupancy fee is published in the Master Fee Schedule, so no separate certificate-of-occupancy charge is listed here; the certificate of occupancy is issued through the building-permit process under the locally adopted 2021 International Building Code. A business owner planning new construction (not a remodel) should budget for the ASIP and, if applicable, watershed-partnership fees on top of the base Table 3-A permit fee — both are real, confirmed, per-acre charges tied to the building-permit process rather than the permit fee itself.
Sources
Every figure in the table above was read from one of these government pages on the date shown.
- City of Bellevue Master Fee Schedule, Resolution No. 2025-01 (effective February 18, 2025) — the complete fee schedule covering building, fire, zoning, sign, contractor/trade licensing, occupation tax and peddler/mobile vendor feesCity of Bellevue, Nebraska · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-11
- Bellevue Code of Ordinances § 8.5-3 (License and Occupation Tax Levied on Businesses, Professions Located Within District; Rate; Use) — confirms the $25.00 annual Business Improvement District tax applies only within district boundaries, under Chapter 8.5 (Business Improvement Districts)City of Bellevue, Nebraska (Code of Ordinances, via American Legal Publishing) · primary source · retrieved 2026-10-08
- Building Permit Fees — the City's own hosted copy of Table 3-A (Building Permit Fees) and Table 3-B (Electrical Permit Fees) of the 1997 Uniform Administrative Code, the valuation-based schedule referenced but not reprinted in the Master Fee ScheduleCity of Bellevue, Nebraska, Permits & Inspections · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-11
Who issues business permits in Bellevue?
Permitting in Bellevue is split across 5 agencies we hold records for, with tax registration handled at state level. No single office issues everything, which is why an opening usually means filing in several places rather than one.
Bellevue issuing agencies
- City of Bellevue, Nebraska, Fire Department, Fire Prevention DivisionFire code inspections · Fire alarm and fire-extinguishing system permits · Child care facility fire inspections3 permits
- City of Bellevue, Nebraska, Office of the City ClerkPeddler, solicitor, street vendor and mobile vendor licensing · Temporary business licenses (seasonal merchant, carnival/circus, etc.) · Liquor, tobacco and vending-machine occupation tax administration3 permits
- City of Bellevue, Nebraska, Permits & Inspections (Building Department)Commercial building permits and plan review · Certificates of occupancy · Contractor and trade licensing (Class A-E, plumbing, mechanical, sewer, electrical registration)2 permits
- City of Bellevue, Nebraska, Planning DepartmentSign permits · Zoning verification letters · Change of zone, conditional use and subdivision applications2 permits
- Nebraska Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Consumer ProtectionRetail food establishment permits, administered directly for Sarpy County/Bellevue (no local delegated health department programme) · Mobile food unit permits, administered directly (no Bellevue-specific mobile food ordinance on file)2 permits
Other Nebraska jurisdictions we cover
Commercial Compliance Hub publishes information, not legal advice. Requirements change — confirm anything you rely on with the issuing agency before you file.