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Hanover supervisors waive building-permit fees for county and school projects
Summary
The Hanover County Board of Supervisors voted to exempt the county and Hanover County Public Schools from building-permit fees, a change officials say will reduce administrative costs while maintaining accounting transparency by reporting 'equivalent fee' data.
The Hanover County Board of Supervisors voted Sept. 8 to exempt county- and school-owned buildings from paying building-permit fees, a move county officials said will cut administrative processing costs while keeping accounting transparency through equivalent-fee reporting.
Richard Gordon, Hanover County’s chief building official, told the board the department currently collects permit fees to offset inspection and administration costs and that roughly 2% of any collected fee is remitted to the Commonwealth for the Virginia Building Code Academy. Gordon said fee collections vary with capital projects; in fiscal 2025 the department collected $305,779 for school projects tied to two elementary schools under construction.
"The process for obtaining the building permit will be the same," Gordon said, adding the county would simply waive the fee. He said the department will continue to perform inspections and will report what fees would have been charged as "equivalent data" to show the level of staff effort.
Supervisor Dibble moved the resolution to update the fee schedule to exempt Hanover County and Hanover County Public Schools projects from permit fees; after a second, the board voted unanimously in favor.
Board members asked questions about accounting and workload. Gordon said eliminating the fee would lower reported department revenue but not actual county revenue because the fees were previously passed between county budgets; he said finance and administrative processing time would be reduced and the county would stop paying the 2% state levy on internal transfers.
The resolution was forwarded to the board after review and recommendation by the finance committee. The board adopted the resolution and authorized staff to implement the new fee schedule.
The board did not set an effective-on date during the discussion; the resolution package will be available in posted minutes and on the county website following adoption.
The board moved on to other business after the vote.
