Board approves modest fee increases for Environmental Health Services to reduce general‑fund reliance

The Board of Supervisors approved amendments to the County’s Environmental Health Services (EHS) fee schedule for fiscal year 2025–26. EHS Director Peter Hague told the board the changes were designed to align fees with staff time and to reduce net county cost while applying a 4.3% CPI adjustment to offset expected salary increases.

Details
- Timing: EHS invoices are issued annually in November. The fee changes will be incorporated in time for the county’s permit mailing and align with the FY 2025–26 expense assumptions.
- Method: Staff used time‑task analysis to update fees and also spread two years of unrecovered emergency‑response costs across existing fees. EHS said it will continue periodic time‑task analyses to keep fees aligned with actual workload.

Board action: The item was approved without public comment and passed on roll call.

Context: The fee changes follow broader county efforts to improve cost recovery for program services and reduce general‑fund subsidy where appropriate.