Lane County adopts ordinance to enable charging utilities right-of-way permit fees

Lane County officials on Jan. 7 approved Ordinance 2409, authorizing the county to exercise new state-granted authority to charge utilities for right-of-way facility permits.

The vote authorizes the county to use authority established by Senate Bill 1566, passed in the 2024 legislative session, which permits counties to collect utility permit fees—subject to certain exemptions and a maximum fee cap of $500. Becky Taylor, Lane County senior transportation planner, told the board the ordinance only enables the county to charge the fees; the Finance and Audit Committee would later set specific amounts.

The ordinance matters because Lane County’s Road Fund has been subsidizing permit review and inspections for utility work. Taylor said facility permit fees were first established in 2005 for many permit types after the county determined the Road Fund should not subsidize permits that primarily benefit individual applicants. She said historical state law prevented counties from charging utilities directly until the recent change. Taylor said Senate Bill 1566 exempts routine maintenance and emergency work from fees and requires counties to issue utility permits within 15 days.

Taylor told the board that exercising the authority could reduce the Road Fund subsidy for permit work “by about 62%” in the agenda memo’s best-case projection, but a commissioner raised a numerical question during the hearing. A commissioner noted the memo’s numbers appear inconsistent with the math shown in the packet: the memo lists an annual program cost of about $375,000 and 283 eligible permits; at $500 per permit that would yield roughly $141,500 (about 38% of program cost), not 62%. Taylor acknowledged the discrepancy and described the 62% number as a theoretical, best-case illustration dependent on permit volumes and fee levels.

No members of the public offered testimony at the hearing. After discussion, the board took a roll-call vote and approved Ordinance 2409. The ordinance authorizes the county to exercise the fee-collecting authority created by Senate Bill 1566; it does not itself set permit fees. The board’s packet and staff comments say any fee schedule would be proposed subsequently and reviewed by the Finance and Audit Committee before implementation.

Implementation steps remain: the board’s action enables fee collection under state law, but staff must return with a proposed fee schedule and the Finance and Audit Committee must approve specific rates. Taylor said staff had notified local utilities and listed entities that received notice, including Lane Electric, Lumen (CenturyLink), Comcast, EWEB, Charter, EPUD and Northwest Natural; staff reported receiving two administrative responses and one inquiry from EWEB.

The county also noted that if permit volumes decline over time (for example, due to changes in how services are delivered), fee revenue would fall alongside permit-processing costs. Taylor emphasized that any fee collection is intended to reduce the Road Fund subsidy rather than create a new general revenue stream.

Ordinance 2409 passed by roll call. Further fee-setting will be an administrative action of the Finance and Audit Committee rather than part of this ordinance.