Fire plan-review volume up; city targets January outreach and July fee-study effectivity to shore up revenue

David Cross, Las Vegas Fire & Rescue fire plan-review section manager, reported that plan-review volume has increased about 20% over the last six months and that the unit is meeting its 14-day turnaround goal roughly 80% of the time. Cross said inspections increased about 9% in the six-month window cited, while year-over-year overall inspection volume is down about 1.8%.

Cross explained how permits for systems in multifamily projects are counted: system components such as standpipes, sprinkler systems and fire pumps are issued as separate system permits; whether a project generates multiple permits depends on the number of separate buildings and systems rather than unit count.

On a planned fee study to address revenue shortfalls, Cross and Michael Cunningham said staff are targeting January–February to have the fee study ready for internal discussion and hope to socialize initial concepts with industry stakeholders in January 2026. Cunningham said staff are aiming for an implementation in the next fiscal year pending council action and continued stakeholder meetings; he told the committee, "Our hopes is to try to have it effective. Obviously, it has to go through council, and we have to meet with the industry once we get more defined terms on what the increase is gonna look like." Cross said staff hope to have the study wrapped for discussion by January or February but noted that is a “lofty goal.”

Committee members asked when stakeholder outreach would happen and how multifamily permits are counted; staff said they will update the committee at future meetings and continue industry notifications as the study advances.