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Planning committee backs forwarding proposed 2027 fee increases for zoning to county board
Summary
Marquette County planning and zoning staff proposed multiple fee updates—reszone hearing fee, rural address signage, review fees and raising the allowable collocation fee—to offset higher publishing, software and lease costs; the committee voted to forward the proposals to the county board for inclusion in 2027 budget planning.
Marquette County zoning staff presented a package of proposed fee changes intended to cover rising costs for publishing, postage, software contracts and vehicle leases, and the committee voted to forward those proposals to the County Board for budgeting consideration.
Jean, the county zoning administrator, told the panel that many peripheral costs associated with land‑use hearings — class‑2 newspaper publication costs, postage for required owner notices, and staff time to process applications — were not fully recovered under the current fee schedule, which had not been substantially updated since 2022. She described recommended changes that included raising the rezoning/board‑hearing application fee from $300 to $425 to help cover publication and postage, increasing rural address sign fees to $125 (with part of that routed to the land information office), raising certified survey map (CSM) review fees from $25 to $50, and retaining a modest scale‑based approach for zoning permits.
On wireless infrastructure, Jean noted state statute allows a class‑2 collocation fee of up to $500 and said many counties charge the maximum; the county currently charges $150. Committee members debated whether to increase that fee toward the statutory cap to capture revenue or to keep fees closer to measured staff costs. "The state statutes allow us to charge $500 for a process that is legally allowed — to lose revenue when we are one of the few counties that does not follow the statute for the amount seems questionable," an unnamed committee member said. Other members asked staff to provide more precise time‑and‑cost accounting for specific permit types before larger increases are finalized.
Jean also outlined fixed cost pressures: a permitting software contract projected at roughly $9,000 a year for 2027–2031 and a vehicle lease cost of about $8,000 a year — items she said would increase department expenses even if application volume remained stable.
By consensus and then formal motion, the committee moved to forward the proposed fee changes to the County Board as part of the October grouping of user‑fee adjustments for 2027 budget planning; committee members stressed the County Board, not the committee, would ratify any final fee ordinance.
Why it matters: The proposed adjustments affect developers, property owners, telecommunications companies applying for collocation work, and municipalities that rely on county services. The committee framed the item as budget planning rather than a final fee-setting action.
Next steps: Staff will return with more precise revenue estimates and cost tracking to inform final fee levels before County Board consideration in the fall.
