Buncombe County, NC Business Licensing & Operations: Pawnbrokers (2026)

Article II of Chapter 14, first adopted by Ord. No. 19422 in 1989 and amended by Ord. No. 19701 in 1990, is only three sections long, and none of them prints a dollar figure. Sec. 14-51 establishes that a pawnshop license fee exists and directs readers to a fee schedule "on file and available in the county offices," meaning the current amount is set administratively rather than written into the Code of Ordinances. Sec. 14-52 assigns collection of that fee, and administration of the whole article, to the county tax collector's office rather than to the sheriff or a separate licensing board, which is notable because several of the county's other business licenses (massage establishments, adult establishments) run through the planning department or the board of commissioners instead.

Sec. 14-53 approves a standard pawnbroker's license application form for the tax collector to use, also kept on file in that office. S. 105-50, the state statute letting counties levy a license tax on pawnbrokers. Because Article II has no violation or penalty clause of its own, a pawnshop that operates without paying the fee or without the approved license falls under the Code's general penalty provision.