What do these permits involve in Morgantown?

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Fire and Life Safety Plan Review (Building Permit)

The City's own general Building Permits page confirms building permits are submitted through the City's online portal and states plainly that 'B&O Taxes are not included in the fee(s) associated with your building permit application,' but publishes no base building-permit dollar figure of its own. The Fire Marshal's Division publishes its own calculable Fire and Life Safety Plan Review fee, tied to a project's construction value, which functions as a building-permit-adjacent charge for any new construction or remodel. The same Fire Marshal fee table separately prices sprinkler plan review ($85.00 for 1-200 heads, $100.00 for 201-300, $120.00 for 301-750, plus $0.10 per head above 750) and fire alarm plan review ($50.00 per 10,000 square feet), relevant to any contractor's own project-specific fire-suppression scope.

Sign Permit

A sign permit (and, for wall, pole, monument, or projecting signs, a plan review submission) is genuinely required before erecting or altering most sign types, per the Zoning Code's own Table 1369.06.01. The City's own current combined Sign Permit and Plan Review application leaves its 'Fee' field blank for internal office completion, consistent with the ordinance's own deferral of permitting fees generally to a separately-maintained 'Plan Review and Permitting Fee Schedule' (Section 1315.03) — but the City's own current Plan Review and Permitting Fee Schedule, effective September 16, 2026, prices the line item 'Zoning Review of Sign Permit Application' at a flat $20.00, filling in that blank. The same Zoning Code table separately confirms that a Building Permit — not merely a Sign Permit — is required in addition for 'signs costing more than $250 which includes labor and materials,' a real, specific dollar threshold; that separate Building Permit carries its own fee under the same fee schedule's general Building Permit formula rather than this $20.00 figure.

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.

Certificate of Occupancy

Required before a Municipal Business License can issue for any business with a physical location inside city limits. The City's own Steps to Starting Your Business page confirms the fee directly: 'a $65 Certificate of Occupancy application fee made out to the City, we accept cash, check or credit.' The application requires a scaled floor plan (8.5 x 11 inches) showing square footage and proposed use, signatures from the Planning Division and Engineering Department, and mandatory inspections by Code Enforcement and the Fire Marshal — the Fire Marshal's own separate $50.00 inspection fee is recorded below as its own record rather than folded silently into this figure.

Fire Marshal Certificate of Occupancy Inspection

The City's own Steps to Starting Your Business page requires 'mandatory inspections by Code Enforcement and Fire Marshal' before a Certificate of Occupancy issues, and the Fire Marshal's Division's own current fee table separately prices this specific inspection at $50.00 — a separately administered charge on top of the $65.00 Certificate of Occupancy application fee recorded above. The same fee table also prices a $50.00 Commercial Business Inspection, a banded Place of Assembly Permit ($50.00 at or under 300 occupants, $75.00 for 301-999, $100.00 for 1,000 or more — directly relevant to a restaurant or fitness studio's own occupancy load), a $250.00 annual Hazardous Material Permit, and a $25.00-per-system Range Hood Systems fee (relevant to a restaurant kitchen's own suppression system) — none of which is recorded separately here.

Zoning Verification Letter

Often requested for site environmental assessments, real estate transfers, or financing rather than as a mandatory step to open every business, this letter confirms a property's zoning classification, permitted/conditional/nonconforming use status, and any known unresolved zoning violations. The City's own current [Z-VL] form prices it directly at '$60 per hour ($15.00 minimum)': the $15.00 minimum is charged at submission and the letter itself will not be transmitted until any additional time-based balance, calculated in 15-minute increments, is paid.

Permit	Issuing agency	Fee	Renews	Last checked
Fire and Life Safety Plan Review (Building Permit)	Morgantown Fire Department, Fire Marshal's Division	$1.00 per $1,000 of construction value up to $1,000,000, plus $0.80 per $1,000 of construction value above $1,000,000, per the Fire Marshal's Division's own current published fee table.	one-time, per project	2026-09-11
Sign Permitonly if it applies to you	City of Morgantown, Code Enforcement Office	$20 one-time zoning review fee, per sign permit application — a separate building permit, with its own fee, is also required for signs costing more than $250	one-time, per sign permit application	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
Certificate of Occupancy	City of Morgantown, Code Enforcement Office	$65 one-time	one-time — issued for a new occupancy or a change of business	2026-09-11
Fire Marshal Certificate of Occupancy Inspection	Morgantown Fire Department, Fire Marshal's Division	$50 per inspection	one-time — performed as part of Certificate of Occupancy issuance	2026-09-11
Zoning Verification Letteronly if it applies to you	City of Morgantown, Planning Division (Development Services)	$60.00 per hour of Planning Division staff research time, billed in 15-minute increments, with a $15.00 minimum due at the time of application and the remaining time-based balance due before the written letter is delivered.	one-time, per written verification request	2026-09-11

Business licenses and permits in Morgantown, West Virginia

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