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Hubbard County staff urge options as 911 addressing fees fail to cover program costs
Summary
County staff told commissioners that current 911 addressing fees and sign charges do not cover highway department administration costs (about $38,500 projected for 2025) and urged the board to consider budgeting those costs or modest fee increases to avoid collection problems and staff processing burdens.
Eric, a county staff member, told the Hubbard County board the county’s 911 addressing program is not financially self-sustaining and that the current fee structure leaves the county subsidizing the work.
“We received from the highway department their numbers for 2025’s program admin and that came in at just under $38,500,” Eric said, adding that fee revenue last year was roughly $10,000 and that a four‑year average was about $15,000. He said the county currently charges $110 for a new address application and $275 for a new road sign.
Eric proposed one option: include a budget line to cover the administrative costs rather than relying entirely on individual fees that are sometimes unpaid and costly for staff to process. “What if we just allocate an amount in the budget … to cover the costs of the program admin?” he asked the board.
Board members pressed staff on whether landowners could install signs themselves to reduce costs. Eric replied that initial installations must be done by highway department staff because crews must perform a “go‑for‑one” locate and place blades consistently relative to driveways; he gave per-install examples of about $576 in the north and $218 in the south of the county.
The board discussed alternatives: modestly raising the existing fees (one member suggested $150), folding costs into the levy as some counties do, or tying payment to platting or permitting in some circumstances. Eric noted counsel had advised against adding unpaid address fees to property tax. He said staff will continue vetting options and return with refined estimates for the 2027 budget.
The briefing also flagged an ordinance update: Eric said staff are preparing revisions to the county’s 911 ordinance and a related policy to better address scenarios that did not exist when the program began and to reduce ambiguity in administration.
The board did not take formal action on fees at the meeting, but members signaled interest in further analysis and possible modest fee increases for later consideration.
