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Henderson committee refers bill to update Development Service Center fees after DSC reports about $3.4M shortfall
Summary
The committee referred bill 3836, which would amend Henderson Municipal Code chapter 15.02 to revise the Development Service Center fee schedule, to the regular council meeting on 2025-05-20. Topher Barnes said a cost-of-services study found the DSC had realized about $3.4 million in losses over two years and proposed fee changes effective Oct. 1, 2025.
Henderson — The committee voted to refer bill 3836, which would amend Henderson Municipal Code chapter 15.02 to revise the Development Service Center (DSC) schedule of fees, to the regular council meeting on May 20, 2025. The referral followed a presentation from Topher Barnes, manager of the DSC, who said the department’s cost-of-services review found the DSC “realized losses of 3,400,000.0” over the past two years and recommended a set of fee adjustments.
Barnes, who introduced his presentation as manager of the Development Service Center, described a year-long cost study that calculated full cost per task by combining position costs (average salary and benefits plus direct and indirect costs), billable hours and the time required to complete reviews and inspections. He told the committee that indirect costs were allocated proportionally across fee and non-fee activities and that some fees were reduced where the study showed they exceeded actual costs, but that “for the most part, we do see increases across all the different permit times.”
Barnes said the DSC undertook public outreach with the development industry and filed a business impact statement in accordance with NRS. He also said the DSC is funded solely through permit revenues as an enterprise fund and not by the city’s general fund: “We're fully an enterprise fund, which means that everything that we do is budgeted based upon fees that we collect for the permits,” Barnes said.
In response to questions from Mayor Romero, Barnes described the DSC’s industry advisory committee, which provides oversight and feedback on performance and operations. He also confirmed the department follows a three-week, two-week, one-week review target (referred to in the meeting as the “3-2-1” process), which he said meets its target more than 90% of the time and “it's more like 98% of the time.”
If adopted by the full council, the presenter said the proposed fee changes would take effect Oct. 1, 2025. The committee formally referred the bill to the regular meeting after a motion made by Councilwoman Cox; the clerk recorded that all council members voted in favor.
Next steps: bill 3836 will appear on the Henderson regular council agenda for May 20, 2025, for further consideration and any final votes.
