Small businesses owners are getting a reprieve from City Hall. The city announced Friday that the number of violations issued against small businesses has been cut by a third, and total fine revenue is down by half. NY1's Grace Rauh filed this report.
Tanjim Khan has worked at a souvenir shop called El Toro-Tees in Lower Manhattan since last summer. In that time the city has not assessed any fines against the store, but city inspectors have been relatively frequent visitors.
"In the last four months, they came here twice," said Khan. "They will check and make sure our papers and everything is in place."
Khan's shop is benefitting from a new approach to small business regulations by Mayor Bill de Blasio. Instead of issuing fines when violations are found, the Department of Consumer Affairs often will give the business owners time to fix the problems.
"They came here and said, 'Okay, you have to get this paper done otherwise you will get your fine,'" said Khan. "They will give us the chance."
In the most recent budget year, the department fined businesses $15.7 million, a huge drop from the $32.5 million in fines the previous year.
The number of violations has dropped as well, from more than 19,000 to about 12,000 in just one year.
"We really believe that where there is no consumer harm, so for example if one word in a sign is not correct or the refund policy is not exactly where it should be, we want to give businesses the opportunity to cure that in 30 days and not be assessed a fine," said Julie Menin, Consumer Affairs Commissioner.
It may take a while, however, for the opinions of some small business owners to change after feeling for so many years that the city was just out to get them.
"They usually find something to fine you if they really want to," said a newsstand owner.
When he was public advocate, de Blasio accused the Bloomberg administration of using fines to boost the city budget. In running for mayor, he vowed to ease the financial burden on small businesses. His administration eagerly touted the lower fine figures Friday as a promise kept and with city tax revenues surging these days, the decline in fines likely will not be missed.