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County considers higher building-permit fees for solar and wind projects to offset budget shortfalls
Summary
LaSalle County staff proposed raising building-permit fees for large solar and wind projects and increasing budgeted permit revenue to $200,000; committee sent the ordinance back to Land Use for wording about wind/solar fees and voted to forward it to the full board after Land Use review.
Brian, a county planning/building official, told the Finance Committee the ordinance before the committee updates building permit fees to reflect a renewed contract with SafeBuilt and to align with proposed state energy law language for wind and solar permits. "This ordinance is to update the building permit ordinance for the fees," he said, explaining the fee structure would set maximums for certain large renewable projects.
Brian said the county currently receives roughly $20,000 from community-solar permits and about $7,500 per turbine for wind. Under the proposed language, community-solar permit fees could rise to about $50,000 and large wind projects would be capped at lower amounts than previously budgeted — he estimated the net effect could raise smaller-project revenue while reducing per-large-project fees. The committee instructed staff to move the proposed ordinance back to the Land Use Committee for the specific wind-and-solar fee language; after that review, the item will go to the full county board in December.
Committee members also agreed to increase the budgeted permit revenue for fund '031 from $135,000 (current) to $200,000 and to raise the contract building inspector/professional services line to $150,000 to reflect expected work under the SafeBuilt contract. Chair and committee members asked staff to be conservative in projections and to return if revenues or permit counts change materially.
