Ashwaubenon committee recommends shifting fire‑inspection bills to property owners, updates fee schedule

The Village of Ashwaubenon Finance and Personnel Committee recommended approval on June 17 of an ordinance and resolution that would charge annual commercial and industrial fire‑inspection fees to property owners rather than business operators and change the commercial fee calculation from a per‑unit charge to a building square‑footage charge, effective for the 2025 inspection year.

The measure affects commercial and industrial properties (including tax‑exempt nonprofits) required under state law to receive annual inspections. Joel (staff member) told the committee, “We are required under state statutes to perform these inspections. This also includes non for profit entities like churches and and other, non for profit or tax exempt entities.” The change was presented as an administrative cleanup to use the property ownership data maintained for tax assessment and GIS rather than relying on frequently changing business‑operator records.

Committee members were told the change will simplify billing and collections and allow delinquent inspection fees to be placed on the property tax bill if unpaid. Joel explained the ordinance would take effect upon posting and publication and staff would prepare invoices immediately; bills would be effective for the 2025 inspection year. He warned the shift from per‑unit to per‑building charging “will likely be a reduction in total revenues” for the village.

Officials described current practice and the proposed change. Under the existing schedule, a multi‑tenant retail strip under 5,000 square feet could be billed per tenant (for example, $30 per tenant); the proposed method would assess the building once (the presenter used the same $30 building example), reducing the total number of charges for a property owner. Joel said the village previously had administrative difficulty tracking business operators, leading to undercollection within that budget line; assigning the fee to the property owner allows cross‑checking with tax assessment records and recovery via tax billing.

Committee members asked about inspections of vacant units, apartments and condominiums. Chief Rolling (Fire Chief) said inspections focus on common areas and building systems, not the interior of private dwellings: “Basically, just like any other fire inspection, it just has to be up to code. Is, exit door or is the exit signs working?” He added that the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards guide what can and cannot be inspected inside private living spaces and that inspectors focus on shells, common hallways, ingress/egress, Knox Box access and other public areas.

Committee discussion and votes: a member moved to recommend approval of Ordinance No. 1125 amending fire inspection billing procedures and the motion carried. A separate motion to recommend approval of Resolution No. R1‑125 amending the fire inspection fee schedule also carried. The committee directed staff to prepare and mail invoices after adoption; delinquent charges would be placed on the next tax roll in the same manner as other delinquent utility or special charges.

Why this matters: the change reallocates billing responsibility and simplifies administration by relying on property ownership records, but it will likely reduce inspection fee revenues compared with the prior per‑unit approach. Property owners of commercial and industrial buildings, nonprofits that host public activity, tenants, and the village budget for fire prevention will be directly affected.

Background and statutory context: staff reminded the committee that state statutes require two inspections per year unless a municipality adopts an ordinance to reduce that requirement to one; the village adopted such an ordinance two to three years ago. The village also receives a partial state general‑aid payment for prevention and education programs (referred to in the meeting as “2% dues”), which does not fully cover inspection program costs and is supplemented by local inspection fees.

Next steps: the committee’s recommendations will go to the full village board for final action; staff will prepare invoices for the 2025 inspection year and apply tax‑roll delinquent procedures for unpaid fees.