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Cole County health department seeks higher inspection fees, expands clinic hours and nurse-practitioner services
Summary
Health department recommended doubling some environmental fees, creating lodging inspection fees, and expanding nurse-practitioner hours to increase clinic revenues and potentially reduce county health-insurance costs; commissioners asked staff for comparative fee data and evidence of savings.
The Cole County Health Department told commissioners Dec. 2 it plans to seek higher environmental and inspection fees and expand clinic capacity to improve cost recovery and reduce pressure on the county’s health-insurance fund.
Health director (Speaker 2) presented data showing the department conducted roughly 235 food inspections in 2025 and collected about $7,600 in fees; staff recommended roughly doubling the fee schedule (high/medium/low risk fees) to better cover staff time and overhead. "We're spending a lot more money doing food inspections than we're collecting," Speaker 2 said, recommending increases to food, lodging and on-site sewage fees and offering comparative county fee data.
The department also highlighted its on-site nurse practitioner (Michelle), who started in July 2024. Staff said clinic visits are typically quicker and cheaper than urgent care or emergency-room visits and that encouraging county employees to use the clinic could save insurance costs. One anecdote cited a staff member whose urgent-care visit cost roughly $630 out of pocket, while an equivalent clinic visit would have been about $45.
Commissioners requested a detailed comparison of estimated savings to employee use patterns before they approve fee or county-employee incentive changes. They also asked for comparisons with neighboring counties and examples of lodging-ordinance fee language if the county chooses to begin charging lodging inspection fees currently collected by the state.
Next steps: Health staff will provide proposed fee schedules, comparison data from peer counties, and a cost-savings analysis of clinic usage vs. urgent care/ED visits for commissioner review before any final fee changes are adopted.
