Syracuse, NY Business Licensing & Operations: Pawnbrokers (2026)
Key Facts
- Licensing authority
- city clerk, under NY Gen. Bus. Law Art. V
- Annual license fee
- $200
- Required bond
- $10,000, filed with city clerk
- License term
- one year from date of issuance
- Renewal
- reapply to clerk, pay $200 fee
- Governing state law
- General Business Law Article V
Summary
No one may run a pawnbroker business in Syracuse without a license from the city clerk under Sec. 9-70, tied to New York General Business Law Article V. Licenses cost $200 a year, require a $10,000 bond, and expire one year from issuance.
No person shall carry on the business of a pawnbroker within the city without having obtained a license from the city clerk authorizing such person to carry on such business in the manner and upon the conditions stated and set forth in article V of the General Business Law of the state of New York as now existing or as the same may be hereafter amended.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 41).
Full Breakdown
Section 9-68 designates the city clerk as the licensing authority for pawnbrokers, with full power under General Business Law Article V to issue and revoke licenses, require and approve bonds, administer oaths, examine pawnbrokers and their books under oath, demand the filing of required reports on the sale of defaulted pledges, and impose fines for violations of the state pawnbroker law. Section 9-70 requires any person carrying on a pawnbroker business in the city to first obtain that license, on the terms set out in Article V of the state General Business Law.
Section 9-71 sets the annual license fee at $200, though the fee drops automatically if state law later caps it lower. Section 9-72 fixes the license term at one year from the date of issuance unless a statute says otherwise, and Section 9-73 lets a pawnbroker renew by reapplying to the city clerk and paying the same $200 fee. Section 9-74 requires every licensed pawnbroker to file, at the time of licensing, a bond with the city in the penal sum of $10,000, again subject to being displaced by a different amount set under state law.
Section 9-75 folds in the substantive state pawnbroking rules, applying General Business Law provisions on interest rates, recordkeeping, and the sale of unredeemed pledges and disposition of proceeds to every licensed pawnbroker in the city, so the license is a local gate on top of a state-regulated business. Section 9-69 separately lets the mayor designate two daily city newspapers to run the required published notices of pledge sales.
Violations & Fines
Operating as a pawnbroker without the city clerk's license, or without the required $10,000 bond on file, means the business is unlicensed under Sec. 9-70 and Sec. 9-74. Because the city clerk exercises the state's Article V licensing powers under Sec. 9-68, the clerk can suspend or revoke a pawnbroker's license for willful violations of the General Business Law's pawnbroker provisions, and can impose the fines and penalties that statute authorizes for offenses relating to interest rates, recordkeeping and pledge-sale procedures folded in under Sec. 9-75.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who issues a pawnbroker license in Syracuse?
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Sources & Official References
Other rules in Syracuse
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