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Lowell Board of Health backs staged increase to body-art permit fee
Summary
The Board voted to send a memo to the City Council recommending raising body-art establishment permitting fees to $375 on Jan. 1, 2026 and $500 on Jan. 1, 2027, with further public hearings to follow.
The Lowell Board of Health on March 5 voted to send a memo to the City Council recommending a staged increase in body-art establishment permitting fees to $375 effective Jan. 1, 2026, and $500 effective Jan. 1, 2027.
The recommendation was presented after discussion of a city-council request and a previous public hearing. Board members said the schedule allows a gradual increase rather than an immediate jump. “The recommendation was, for it to go to $375 as of January 2026 and $500 as of 01/01/2027,” the board chair said during the discussion.
The board’s action at the meeting was limited to approving the recommendation and asking the secretary to send a memo to the City Council. A member moved the motion and another member seconded; the board then voted in favor with an aye vote called at the meeting. The vote was to forward the recommended fee schedule and not final adoption by the City Council, which will hold its own public hearing and may request the matter return to the Board of Health for additional comment.
Board members discussed the language of the motion and confirmed that the motion was only to forward the recommendation; final regulatory changes remain with the City Council and any related regulatory filings. The board did not record a roll-call tally in the meeting transcript.
Next steps: the board’s secretary will formalize the recommendation in a memo to the City Council, and the Council is expected to schedule another public hearing before any change becomes law.
