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Washington County proposes 8.5% average permit fee increase and a small valuation fee to shore up services
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Summary
County staff proposed an 8.5% increase to many building-permit and current-planning fees for the fiscal year beginning July 1, citing staffing costs, vendor cloud migration and reserve requirements; staff propose a small additional valuation-based fee to offset general-fund reductions for code compliance.
Washington County staff proposed a roughly 8.5% increase to most building permit and current-planning fees for the fiscal year beginning July 1 to maintain service levels and meet reserve requirements, and outlined an optional small valuation-based fee to replace a portion of general-fund support for land-use code compliance.
Carol Johnson, Planning and Development Services division manager, said the division operates primarily on fee revenue and that prior under-indexed fees required a 50% increase in fiscal year 2023-24 to stabilize operations. She said staff now propose an 8.5% increase while holding some fees constant for equity reasons. “We had to hire direct staff to establish these target service levels, because it was important for us to have those targets,” Johnson said.
Johnson said the county is not adopting a separate technology fee at this time, despite rising technology costs associated with the mandated Accela cloud migration; the county instead plans to absorb short-term migration costs and evaluate software options after the mandated upgrade. She said the Accela migration and multiple version upgrades are expected in the fall and that staff may consider a targeted technology fee after completing an assessment of costs and options.
County staff said the proposed valuation-based fee would apply to building permits that create new valuation (for example, new single-family homes or commercial construction) and is modeled on a fee used in Deschutes County. Staff presented examples showing that the valuation fee would add a small percentage (roughly 0.4% to 4% depending on the program and permit type) to typical building permit totals and that mechanical- or electrical-only permits without valuation would not be subject to the fee.
Johnson said building services must maintain 12 to 18 months of reserves per state guidance to accommodate the cyclical development market and that current planning reserves are substantially lower; staff said the proposed increases are intended to stabilize reserves and reduce reliance on general-fund subsidies.
The proposed fee package will be considered by the Board of Commissioners as part of the county budget process; staff said the increases are sensitive to housing production costs and encouraged public comment during the budget hearings.
