Council codifies new building and parks fee schedule into Resolution 25‑10

The City Council adopted Resolution 25‑10 to incorporate recently approved changes to building permit fees and parks and recreation fees into Destin’s official fee schedule.

City Manager Larry Jones and Finance/parks staff told the council the resolution formalizes actions the council approved in earlier meetings. Staff said applying the new parks and recreation fees to 2024 usage would have yielded about $30,000 in additional revenue and that changes to building permit fees are intended to move the building division toward cost recovery. Staff described the changes as intended to stabilize the building division fund and to recover a larger share of service costs.

Council members asked for context: several members said they wanted clearer long‑range revenue projections before the budget cycle because property values and revenues may be flat in coming years. Councilmembers discussed alternatives to recurring fee increases — such as service reductions or targeted program cuts — and asked staff to include fee impacts in the upcoming budget deliberations.

Councilman Bagby and others said the council has reviewed fee analyses in previous sessions and that the council should continue to evaluate fee policy as part of the broader budget process. After discussion, the council voted to adopt the schedule.

Staff said the new fee schedule will be published in the city’s consolidated fee resolution and will be effective as adopted; staff also committed to providing more detailed comparisons and revenue impact studies as part of the budget process.