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County holds hearing on proposed surveyor fee increases; no public testimony
Summary
The Columbia County Board of Commissioners held a statutorily required hearing on proposed updates to the surveyor office fee schedule. Nathan Woodward, county surveyor, said the increases are driven by wage and time costs; the board closed the hearing with no public testimony and will consider the item on a future consent agenda.
The Columbia County Board of Commissioners opened a public hearing Wednesday on a proposed update to the county surveyor office fee schedule and closed it after no members of the public offered testimony.
Senior Assistant County Counsel Spencer Carson told the board that state law requires a public hearing before adopting new or increased fees. Nathan Woodward, the county surveyor, said the proposed increases stem from rising wages and the time required to review surveys.
Woodward said the county last reviewed surveyor fees in 2017 and that he based the new schedule on the average time it takes his office to review plats, subdivisions and partition maps. He told the board he compared the proposed fees to those in 10 other counties to check how Columbia County’s charges would compare.
Carson said that, if the board finds the fees acceptable, the ordinance or fee schedule would be placed on a future consent agenda for formal approval. No vote to adopt the fees was taken at Wednesday’s meeting.
The hearing record shows no in-room or online public testimony was offered before the board closed the hearing.
Next steps: the proposed fee schedule will return to the board on a future consent agenda for potential formal adoption.
