Union County residents will see rate increases for building related permits starting next year.
While higher costs might not initially be a welcoming change, county officials said the increases come as a way of simplifying an overly complicated process.
Sam Cronk, the chief building official within the engineer’s office, called the changes “substantial” and said the decision reflects both the state of things economically – such as inflation – as well as the “cumbersome” and occasionally “punitive” nature of the county’s fee system as it pertains to the residential and commercial building and permitting process.
“Fundamentally, we had a list of things that we’re trying to get through our heads to try to change,” he said. “I think the concept at one time was to try to be inclusive of everything possible, to throw every different variation out there that you could catch, and it’s just impossible to do that.”
He said that philosophy resulted in a “very clunky, cumbersome” document, 13 pages in total, which makes communication between the county, residents and business owners difficult.
The previous fee schedule had lots of inconsistencies that Cronk said became difficult to justify to customers.
“When I’m trying to justify and have conversations with customers and stakeholders on why we charged what we charged, it was difficult to establish a rationale behind it,” Cronk said. “So, making these changes now is to try help and create some of that rationale.”
One of the noticeable inconsistencies involved the department charging higher residential re-inspection fees compared to commercial ones. The 2021 schedule lists residential re-inspection fees at $100 for “partial or re-inspections” that were charged for “incomplete work, work that is not ready for inspection and work that does not comply with the approved plans” whereas the commercial fee is listed as $90.
He said the fees for re-inspections and consultations felt “punitive,” as the permits are mandatory but the county was charging extra for any additional help.
“Consultation fees were significantly higher than the cost of the permit,” Cronk said. “So, a permit cost would be $57, the consultation fee could be $200.” He said that charge felt like the county telling customers to get a permit but “don’t ask for help.”
The new version would change the residential re-inspection fee to $65.
Cronk said there were also different charges for temporary occupancy situations, flood permits and zoning, among other things.
One issue the revised schedule will correct is “add-ons” which Cronk said he found to be “wrong.”
“What it really felt like is ‘I got you in the door and now I’m going to add an additional fee,’” he said. “We as a team talked about this and wanted to eliminate these additional add-on fees.”
An example of an “add-on” fee, Cronk said, would be charging a separate fee for a certificate of occupancy for commercial properties, something the department doesn’t do for residential. Despite going through the proper channels and getting all necessary permits, including the certificate of completion, the county charged an additional $70 just for the occupancy certificate.
That practice carried to other things such as mandating the installation of radon mitigation but then the county also charged additional fees for it.
The reduction of those fees as well as the building department reducing its administrative work with the health department does result in a loss of revenue. Eliminating things like radon fees, the health department work and stopping water heater inspections will result in some $200,000 not coming into the building office.
“The second part of (these changes) is to try to recover some of that loss in the revenue stream,” Cronk said. “I threw in a percentage increase to cover that loss and then tried to take into account just the increased inflation and for our overall increase in cost for us doing business.”
Cost increases include raising fees such as residential building permits from the current rate of $86 plus $9 per 100 square feet to $95 plus $10 per 100 square feet. Residential electrical permits jumped from $57.50 plus $4.50 per 100 square feet to $65 plus $5 per 100 square feet. Cost increases would be similar for HVAC and gas permits.
Ultimately, the new schedule will reduce the fee scale document down to two pages from 13, Cronk said.
Since the last update was in 2021, he added the revision is a practice he would like to see done every three years moving forward.