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Somerset reviews building‑permit fees; council recommends raising Level‑3 stormwater review to $2,000
Summary
After reviewing cost data on permit review and consultant expenses, the council discussed fee calibration and agreed to recommend raising the Level‑3 (new construction) stormwater review fee from its current level to $2,000 to better cover external consultant costs; legal limits on fee design were emphasized by the town attorney.
Councilors reviewed a cost analysis showing significant variation in building and stormwater review costs and debated whether fees should better reflect consultant expenses.
Speaker 6 said new builds can cost the town much more than the current fees recover and asked for a higher fee for substantial projects. The town attorney (Speaker 5) explained the legal constraint: permit fees must relate to the cost of implementing the permit program and cannot be used as punitive taxes. "Fee need to be related to the cost that particular permit requires," Speaker 5 said.
Councilors debated anchoring fees to an average of past consultant costs rather than outliers. Speaker 2 proposed increasing the Level‑3 new‑construction stormwater fee to $2,000 to better reflect likely consultant review expenses; after discussion and multiple objections the council concluded they would recommend $2,000 for Level‑3 stormwater review and asked the attorney to prepare appropriate language consistent with case law on fees.
The council did not adopt a final fee ordinance at the work session but agreed to introduce the fee change at the July meeting for formal action.
