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Falmouth Select Board debates narrowing fee waivers as staff seeks policy rewrite
Summary
Staff opened a review of the town's 2016 fee‑waiver policy; board members discussed limiting full waivers, creating automatic small waivers to reduce administrative burden, protecting affordable‑housing waivers and returning with clarified policy language and thresholds.
Town staff asked the Select Board on April 27 to begin a review of the town’s fee‑waiver policy, which was adopted in 2016 and has not been substantially revised. The item was presented as a discussion and staff signaled it will return with proposed rewritten language.
Town staff outlined typical waiver activity (special events, nonprofit requests and a handful of project‑level waivers such as building‑permit waivers for 100% affordable housing). Members debated whether the board should continue routinely granting full fee waivers for community events given the budget constraints outlined earlier in the meeting.
Several members suggested options to streamline the process: set an automatic, modest waiver threshold (for example a fixed dollar amount) that need not come before the board, reserve full waivers for exceptional circumstances, avoid duplicative support (for example where the same applicant already received grant funding), and direct staff to bring a revised, clearer policy back for a future vote. One member emphasized the value of community events and warned against cutting popular, low‑cost activities while another emphasized administrative fairness and equity.
Staff noted that fee waivers for 100% affordable housing projects and some other limited cases have an important policy rationale and should be preserved but that the 2016 policy requires clearer wording and updated thresholds. The board provided initial direction and asked staff to return with draft revisions, including data on waived amounts and staff time to administer requests.
