County staff outline development-fee changes, say planning fees need a catch-up increase

Wade Hu, deputy county executive for mobility, economic growth and resiliency, presented the county’s framework for development-fee schedules and the rationale for proposed FY27 adjustments. Hu said Prince William has followed a "development pays for itself" philosophy for decades, although the general fund has historically subsidized entitlement work and zoning permits. As workload and program expectations rose, staff have moved to incrementally increase fees to cover costs.

Hu described benchmarking work that used a shared set of sample plans across neighboring jurisdictions to produce apples-to-apples comparisons. He said the county has raised fees gradually over the past 11 years at about a 3% average and that the proposed FY27 planning fee revision includes a larger, roughly 15% adjustment "to get those fees ratcheted up" toward cost recovery. Supervisors asked for discipline and transparency in annual adjustments and confirmation that proposed increases would be included in the budget process; Hu said fee changes will be brought forward as part of the budget and that industry engagement occurs annually.