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South Miami staff outline permit-fee study recommending percent-of-construction fees to fully fund building department
Summary
Development Services presented a consultant study recommending a simplified fee structure (commercial ~2% of construction value; residential ~1.5%; raised minimum residential fee), flat fees for simple permits and measures to capture indirect costs so the building department is self-funded.
City staff presented a consultant permit-fee study at the Oct. 21 meeting recommending a move to percent-of-construction fee calculations and a modest increase to minimum residential permit fees to close an operating shortfall and reduce reliance on general-fund subsidies.
Development Services Director Cabrera said the city’s last comprehensive permit-fee study dated to 2012 and that the consultant recommended a commercial fee at roughly 2% of value of construction and a residential fee at 1.5%, along with higher minimums on small residential work (from roughly $1.17 to $1.50 per $1,000 of value). The consultant also proposed flat fees for simple scopes such as roofing, demolition and fences and recommended keeping multi-trade scope charges under a single master permit rather than charging separate sub-permits.
Staff emphasized that the goal is to capture the building department’s fully burdened costs (including payroll services, HR, IT and indirect code-enforcement support) so the department can be self-funded, and estimated an operating cost differential in the order of $130,000 from current practice. Pools and other inspections-intensive permits would see larger increases (staff proposed raising a typical pool fee from $300 to $750 to better reflect inspection hours).
Commissioners asked technical questions about the methodology and comparisons to neighboring cities; Commissioner Rodriguez suggested treating some small commercial interior build-outs at the lower residential-like rate (1.5%) to incentivize small business growth downtown. Staff said the fee schedule would be brought back as legislation for formal adoption and additional adjustments.
What’s next: Staff will prepare legislative language implementing the recommended fee schedule and present it for future hearings where commissioners can adopt or modify the proposed percentages and minimums.
