County construction fees on the rise

Public forum to be held Aug. 26 at 10 a.m. in courthouse

By David Holley

The South County Spotlight, Jul 29, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Darryl Swan / The South County Spotlight

GOING UP — Construction in Columbia County, such as in the unincorporated area of Warren where improvements to Warren Elementary School are occurring, could get a little more costly if proposed fee hikes, the first since 2004, are approved next month.

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Multiple fees charged by the Columbia County Land Development Services Department for construction could increase by as much as 12.7 percent in coming months, if officials approve inflation-based fee hikes.

Current proposals call for building permit, planning and on-site sewage fees to increase anywhere from 2.7 to 12.7 percent. A few new charges, for services such as final site inspections on the planning end of construction projects, are also proposed.

A final public hearing is scheduled for Aug. 26 at 10 a.m. at the Columbia County Courthouse, room 318. Officials met with contractors and builders in early July to discuss the proposal.

County Commissioner Rita Bernhard said the increases were received well by those who attended. Some contractors, however, are frustrated that the county is hiking up these service charges in an economic recession, when business is slow.

The 12.7 percent increase will impact structural and electrical fees, and is so high because the county hasn’t increased the fee for inflation since 2004, said Todd Dugdale, director of Land Development Services. Increasing the fee by 12.7 percent makes up for not increasing it at all during the last five years, he said.

And the new fees are to cover the cost of staff work that the county previously never charged for, Dugdale said.

With the budget cuts his department has suffered this year – he lost a third of his full-time staff and all of his part time staff in the building division – it is necessary to make the increases to prevent additional cuts, Dugdale said.

“What it boils down to is it would avoid another layoff in the building division,” Dugdale said. If more layoffs happened, his department would be in danger of losing certified staff who inspect for building and planning.

But contractors and builders, such as Mike Mangold, are frustrated that the county didn’t plan better during the last five years by increasing CPI every year, and then maintaining contingencies in case of situations such as recent staff layoffs. Now the high fee increases will likely impact business, said Mangold, who owns MDM Contracting and Excavation in Scappoose.

In construction, fees such as the county’s are passed along through the builder to their customers. But with these fees increasing by as little as $.10 and as much as $130, it could mean that some customers will hold off on their construction projects.

“People that are right up against the fence, additional building costs end up tipping it over and they postpone it,” Mangold said.