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Pinal County adopts CPI‑linked annual fee adjustments for air permits
Summary
The Board adopted an amendment to the Air Quality Control District code to tie annual permit fee adjustments for stationary sources (Title V and non‑Title V) to the Consumer Price Index, with updates to hourly processing rates and cost accounting provisions; the change takes effect Jan. 1, 2027.
PINAL COUNTY — The Pinal County Board of Supervisors approved a rulemaking Feb. 18 that allows the county air district to make modest annual adjustments to stationary‑source permit fees and hourly processing rates based on the Consumer Price Index.
Rupesh Patel, Air Quality Planning Manager, told the board the change is intended to prevent erosion of the program’s funding and to ensure the permit program can meet inspection and processing demands. Patel said current Pinal fees are significantly lower than nearby jurisdictions and that automatic annual adjustments — typically between 1% and 4% depending on inflation — will let the county keep pace with administrative costs.
The proposed changes extend the county’s existing annual adjustment authority (previously limited to Title V sources) to non‑Title V permit fees and establish a cost‑accounting requirement for Class II and Class III permits. Patel told supervisors the adjustments would be applied to the base fee on the county code appendix and are not intended to match other agencies dollar‑for‑dollar but to maintain program solvency.
The board opened and closed the public hearing with no public comments, then moved and approved the resolution to adopt the adjustments, which are scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, 2027.
