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Commissioners discuss revising permit-fee ordinance after error led to outsized fees for agricultural buildings
Summary
County staff announced a first reading to amend the fee schedule tied to the International Code Council adoption after a drafting error produced excessively high permit estimates (example: an estimated $90,000 fee for multiple chicken houses); proposed correction is a 15¢ per-square-foot fee.
County staff told commissioners at a work session that a drafting error in the county's ordinance adopting the International Code Council fee schedule would have produced excessive permit costs for some projects, prompting a first reading to correct the schedule.
"There was certain projects like chicken houses, the the permit fee is going to cost, $90,000 to build 6 chicken houses," Mr. Ledbetter said, describing the error discovered after the ordinance adoption. He said the proposed amendment would charge 15¢ per square foot instead of the prior, incorrect calculation.
Ledbetter framed the change as aligning permit fees with the county's stated intent to recover only administrative costs rather than total project costs. "We're only supposed to recover enough to where it cost to run our office, permit fees over the year," he said.
The item was announced as a first reading; no vote or adoption was recorded in the work-session transcript. Commissioners did not complete a formal vote during the work session and no ordinance number or effective date was supplied in the record. Staff indicated the first reading had been discussed previously in July and August and will return to the regular meeting as a scheduled item.
Provenance: ordinance first reading announced by staff; detailed fee tables and final ordinance language were not included in the transcript.
