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Richland County holds public hearing on proposed building permit fee increases, changes to fire alarm fees
Summary
County building department proposed aligning commercial permit fees with the state's fee schedule, consolidating several line items, switching fire alarm permits from square-foot to device-based fees, and projecting roughly $168,000 additional revenue across commercial and residential categories.
Richland County commissioners opened a public hearing Sept. 23 on proposed changes to the county building department's fee schedule, including a plan to align commercial permit fees with the state schedule and change how fire alarm permits are charged.
A county building department representative told commissioners the Ohio Revised Code and Ohio Administrative Code allow the Board of Commissioners to set local fees. The department said its last fee updates were in 2017 and 2019 and that inflation, staffing costs and a reduced geographic enforcement area had prompted a review.
The department proposed three consolidated fee schedules: residential, commercial and a contract-jurisdictions schedule for work the county enforces outside its borders. The presentation said several separate line items (for roofing, solar and similar work) were consolidated to reduce confusion about whether multiple fees applied to the same project.
On the commercial side the department proposed aligning fees with the state's current commercial schedule; using 2024 activity levels, staff estimated roughly an $88,000 increase in commercial revenue. The department estimated about an $80,000 increase in residential revenue using comparable local examples; the speaker said the state does not publish a residential fee schedule.
A notable change would shift fire alarm permit fees from a square-footage basis to a device-based fee. The presenter said applying device-based pricing to 2024 permit activity would reduce revenue from the alarm-square-foot category by about $7,500 compared with the county's old square-foot approach, but the device basis is used by other jurisdictions and the state.
The department said the state is itself revising its fee schedule (it last updated fees in 2019) and that the county's proposal uses the state's current commercial schedule. The presenter also noted the county's enforcement contracts with other jurisdictions include a $25-per-scope per-application mileage/expense add-on.
The board set a second public hearing for next Tuesday; staff said any adopted fee schedule would apply to new applications received on or after Jan. 1 and recommended that adoption accelerate alignment with the county budget calendar and give applicants time to plan.
Commissioners were given a wide spreadsheet comparing current and proposed fees and asked staff to produce a more readable version before the next hearing. The department said the proposals can be modified during the hearing process.
