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Muskegon County approves single temporary food-service license fee starting Jan. 1, 2025
Summary
Muskegon County commissioners voted unanimously to set a single temporary food-service license fee effective Jan. 1, 2025, after public health staff said tiered late-application surcharges were creating barriers for vendors and did not reflect additional inspection costs.
Muskegon County commissioners voted unanimously to simplify temporary food-service licensing fees to a single rate, effective Jan. 1, 2025. The motion was offered by Commissioner Cook and supported by Commissioner Page.
Kathy Moore, the county public health director, told commissioners the public health advisory team reviewed the existing fee structure and recommended eliminating higher surcharges for applications submitted within seven days or 48 hours of an event. "The recommendation is just to simplify the fee, 1 fee, regardless of the time of application," Moore said, explaining that last-minute inspections generally do not require materially greater staff resources and the higher fees could discourage event coordinators from securing replacement vendors.
Mike Essek, identified in the meeting as an operational manager, joined Moore in outlining the committee's work and said the change is intended as a "people-friendly" first step in making food-service permitting clearer for vendors. Commissioners asked for background and were told there is no additional public-health staffing cost tied to short-notice inspections.
The commission approved the motion by voice vote. The ordinance/motion text recorded at the meeting set the single-rate fee in the motion language (the motion transcript references rates in the text), and the board directed the change to take effect on Jan. 1, 2025.
