Elbert County staff review building-permit fee formulas; no changes adopted

ELBERT COUNTY — County staff on Tuesday walked commissioners through the formulas and data behind building-permit fees, showing Elbert County’s current schedules place the county near the high end of neighboring counties and presenting several options for changes, including automatic updates to valuation tables, a regional cost modifier, and adjustments to plan-review percentages. No formal changes or votes were taken.

The presentation was led by Mark Denreuder, director of Community and Economic Development. "For this work study session, we're gonna be talking about building permit fees," Denreuder said as he opened the materials and walked the Board of County Commissioners through examples and comparative charts.

Denreuder told commissioners that the county’s total permit fee is made up of three components: the permit fee itself (based on a valuation table), a plan-review fee, and a use-tax calculation. Using an accessory-structure example — a 2,800-square-foot pole barn — staff showed the permit fee component for that valuation at roughly $1,480.95, the plan-review component at about $962, and a county use-tax calculation at about $935, producing a combined example total of $3,378.57 for that hypothetical project.

Why this matters: Permits fund the building department’s work (inspections, staff and contract services) and contribute most of the department’s revenue. Denreuder said about 99% of the building department’s revenue derives from permit fees and presented a recent budget snapshot showing the department’s expenses at…