Commissioners hold hearing on building department fees

One Washington County resident showed up at a public hearing last week to oppose proposed fee increases for building permits, inspections and plan reviews.
 Christy Hoff said she and her husband, who farm and ranch on Jenkins Creek Road, want to build a home in the future and a 46 percent hike in the cost of a building permit is not justified, regardless of how long it has been since the last time the fee was adjusted.
 The need to update the fees was brought to the attention of county officials by building inspector Steve Pierson, who owns Idaho Building Inspection Services in Canyon County and has been handling building permits and inspections as needed for the past couple of months.
 Pierson does inspections for a couple of other cities in the area. Unlike the previous building inspector, he is not a county employee and is paid a portion of the permit fees for his services.
 Other counties are updating their building department fee schedules due to higher construction costs, he said.
 Hoff said the community is mostly blue collar workers and would find it hard to come up with the additional cost if the building permit fee is increased. She said Pierson is not from the area and doesn’t understand local needs.
 Commission chairman Kirk Chandler said the fee increase may seem high because it has not been done for so long. The current fee schedule for building permits and services has been in place since it was approved in 2003.
 The cost of a building permit is calculated based on the total construction value of a new residence. The county for years has been using an older version of the ICC Building Valuation table to come up with valuation but will switch to the most current schedule.
 As a result, the cost of the single family building permit will increase by more than 40 percent.
 For example, under the existing fee schedule, a building permit for a $200,000 home in the county would cost $1,553. Under the proposed rates, a building permit for the same $200,000 home would cost $2,849, according to numbers supplied by the county building department.
 The re-inspection or special inspection fee will increase to $100 per hour with a minimum of one hour. Plan review fees will be calculated at 65 percent of the building permit fee. Plan review fees are in addition to the building permit fees.
 Chandler said the county does not have enough demand for building inspection services to hire a full-time building inspector. Under the arrangement with Pierson, taxpayers will no longer be paying the salary of a building inspector.
 Those who buy the building permits and use the services of the building office will cover the cost of the building inspector. If someone builds a new home, they will pay for their own inspection, sort of like an impact fee, Chandler said.
 “He will just come to the county when there are permits and inspections. If there is nothing going on, he doesn’t get paid. There is no cost to the county,” Chandler said.
 Commissioners did not approve the proposed fee hikes following the public hearing. They said they will put the item on the agenda