Kingsville amends code to permit third‑party building inspections; fees to be passed to contractors

The Kingsville City Commission on Jan. 13 approved final passage of an ordinance amending the City of Kingsville Code of Ordinances, Chapter 15, Article 1, Section 13, to allow the city to use third‑party plan review and inspection services and to pass the resulting inspection fees to contractors when the city engages such services.

City staff told the commission the city has been using a third‑party provider for inspections since its in‑house inspector left and that the city has absorbed the resulting invoices. Planning‑department staff said the city has paid $33,783.96 to the third‑party provider since the service began and $17,601.68 so far in the current fiscal year. Staff said the city will pass inspection fees to the contractor or permit holder when the third‑party performs an inspection, and that the city would retain a 10% processing fee per transaction to cover permit‑processing work.

The ordinance language specifically adds authority to use third‑party inspectors and to collect and forward the applicable inspection fees. Staff said the city already has an existing contract with the third‑party provider that remains in place; the contract can be used as needed and the city may stop using the provider if a full‑time inspector is hired. Staff described the change as intended to stop the city from subsidizing contractor inspection costs when outside inspections are required.

Commissioners pressed staff on scale and budget impacts. Staff said the city expects to seek a budget amendment to cover roughly $6,000 per month while third‑party inspections are in use; that cost reflects what the city has been paying and would be used to fund outstanding and upcoming invoices until the permit fees are collected from customers. Commissioners also asked whether hiring a full‑time inspector would eliminate the need for the ordinance; staff said if the city can fund and staff a full‑time inspector that covers all inspections, the city would not need to forward inspections to a third party.

The ordinance passed on a unanimous roll‑call vote with Commissioners Alvarez, Nejosa, Alcon, Lopez and Mayor Fugate voting yes. The code citation added in the motion was identified as Chapter 15, Article 1, Section 13 — "Purpose and authority for third‑party plan review and inspection services." No ordinance number was specified in the meeting record.

The commission’s action formalizes a practice the city said it has been using when an in‑house inspector is not available and adds an explicit code mechanism to pass inspection costs to the permit applicant when third‑party inspection services are used. Staff noted the existing contract with the third‑party provider remains available if the city needs to reengage the vendor for inspections in future.