Area Plan staff win approval for new fee schedule and a non-reverting planning fund; effective date set for May 1

The Vigo County Area Plan Commission voted to adopt a new schedule of fees for applications, petitions and permits and to recommend creation of a planning-and-zoning non-reverting fund that will hold collected user fees for the area planning office.

Executive Director Jared told the commission the fee schedule — the first substantial update since 2016 — was built from a survey of regional jurisdictions and designed to be tailored by application type so small residential applicants were not charged the same as large commercial developers. “Our goal is to offset 100% of our expenses by user fees,” Jared said, noting the target is long-term and that some county general-fund support will remain during the transition.

The commission approved Resolution No. 1 (2026) adopting the fees and agreed to an implementation date of May 1 to coincide with an online permitting rollout by Tyler Technologies. Jared said staff preferred the delayed effective date to avoid forcing contractors to change already-quoted bids.

Separately, the commission voted to recommend Ordinance No. 2 (2026), establishing a planning-and-zoning non-reverting fund into which user fees and fines would be deposited (salaries excluded). Jared said the fund would be used for operational costs and one-time investments such as software upgrades and digitization; funds would carry over year to year and the department would present regular expenditure reports to the commission and request allocations from the county council as needed.