Elbert County commissioners review options to lower and simplify building permit fees

Byron McDaniel, District 3 commissioner and chair of the Elbert County Board of County Commissioners, convened a work session on April 1, 2025, to review staff recommendations for changes to the county's building permit fees aimed at lowering costs for homeowners and simplifying fee calculations.

Mark Denreiter, Elbert County director of community and economic development, told commissioners the department compared Elbert County's fee calculations with seven other jurisdictions (five counties and two towns) and found Elbert County's fees were among the higher county rates for two example projects (a pole barn and a single-family residence). Denreiter recommended several options for the board to consider, including updating valuation tables, applying a modifier for accessory structures, and adjusting fixed rates for specific permit types.

The most significant options discussed were: - Update the International Code Council (ICC) building valuation table on a fixed schedule rather than remain three years in arrears. Denreiter described the ICC table as being updated twice yearly and said four of the seven jurisdictions the county reviewed use a 2024 table. Commissioners discussed adopting the previous year's table (for example, adopt the 2024 table throughout 2025) to avoid midyear changes. - Apply a 0.25 modifier (a 25% reduction) to Group U (accessory structures) on the ICC/ICC-derived valuation calculations so that the current Group U price-per-square-foot example of $66.48 would be reduced to $49.86 under the modifier. - Update the International Residential Code (IRC)…