Waterbury, CT Business Licensing & Operations: Tobacco Retail License (2026)
Key Facts
- Governing chapter
- Waterbury Code Ch. 123, Cigarette Dealers
- Adopted
- Ordinance passed 9-8-2025
- Underlying state license
- Conn. Gen. Stat. § 12-287
- Notice recipient
- Chief law enforcement official or designee
- Police response window
- 15 days after receiving notice
Summary
Waterbury requires cigarette dealers renewing their state tobacco retail license to notify the police chief of the renewal application, giving law enforcement a formal window to flag problem locations to state regulators before relicensing.
Each person who files an application to renew a cigarette dealer's license pursuant to Conn. Gen. Stat. § 12-287, as that section may be amended from time to time, shall simultaneously give written notice of such renewal application to the chief law enforcement official of the City or his or her designee. Such chief law enforcement official, or his or her designee, may respond in writing, not later than 15 days after receipt of such notice, to the Commissioner of Revenue Services, with comments regarding the renewal application that is the subject of such notice.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: 2026 S-8: Supplement contains: Local legislation current through September 8, 2025).
Full Breakdown
Connecticut licenses cigarette dealers under Conn. Gen. § 12-287 through the Department of Revenue Services, not the city, but Waterbury's Code of Ordinances layers a local notice requirement onto every renewal. Chapter 123, adopted September 8, 2025, requires any person filing a renewal application for a cigarette dealer's license to simultaneously give written notice of the renewal to the City's chief law enforcement official (the Chief of Police) or his designee. That notice triggers a 15-day response window: the Chief, or his designee, may respond in writing to the Commissioner of Revenue Services with comments regarding the renewal application within 15 days of receiving the dealer's notice.
The ordinance does not create a separate municipal tobacco license, set a local fee, or establish its own denial process; its function is to give Waterbury police a documented opportunity to weigh in on a dealer's state relicensing before the Commissioner acts. There is no separate Waterbury vape or e-cigarette retail licensing chapter in this code; electronic cigarette and vape sales in Waterbury are governed by the same Conn. Gen. § 12-287 cigarette dealer licensing scheme referenced here, with this local notice requirement riding alongside it.
Violations & Fines
The ordinance does not itself set a local fine schedule; because it is codified without its own penalty section and is not listed among Chapter 123's cross-referenced penalties, a dealer who skips the police notice risks the Commissioner of Revenue Services treating the renewal as incomplete rather than facing a separate Waterbury citation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Waterbury issue its own tobacco retail license?
What happens after police get the renewal notice?
Does this ordinance cover vape shops?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Waterbury
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Tobacco Retail License in Nearby Cities
How other cities in this county handle tobacco retail license.