Dakota County adopts 2026 fee schedule after public hearing

The Dakota County Board of Commissioners voted Nov. 4 to adopt the county2026 fee schedules and incorporate them into the 2026 budget following a public hearing.

Lucas Chase, audit manager in the county finance department, told the board the proposed schedule included multiple categories of changes: newly added fees, fees eliminated because authority shifted to the state, and fee increases intended to recover costs or reflect market rates. "The effective date for most of the fees, basically, all of them will be January 1," Chase said. He said departments were instructed to "start with the inflationary increase of 3%" and then apply…