The city of Spokane says the business registration amnesty program it set up has reduced by 1,000 the number of unregistered businesses that are located in the city or do business here.

City taxes and license specialist Margaret Redd says there now are roughly 2,000 businesses located or doing business that are unregistered, down from 3,000 in May.

The amnesty program, started at the beginning of that month and concluding at the end of July, allowed businesses to come into compliance without any penalties or delinquencies.

Roughly 20,000 businesses are located in Spokane or are doing business here. The annual cost of registration is a $113 base fee, plus a per-person cost that varies depending on business size.

She says the city prefers outreach—and offering education—to business owners rather than issuing penalties to noncompliant businesses, which are subject to a $536-a-day fine.

Even though city business registration has been a two-step process for more than a few years, many business owners still aren’t aware that registration now is handled through the Washington state Business Licensing Service, which is a division of the state Department of Revenue, Redd says.

City spokesman Brian Coddington says, “We’re not going to run right out and start issuing citations now that the amnesty program is over. We’re still going to continue reaching out to those businesses that haven’t registered.”

However, Coddington says there are “egregious offenders” that the city will continue to aggressively pursue. There are dozens of businesses that are noncompliant and repeatedly ignore attempts from the city of Spokane to be contacted, he says.