Supervisors Increase Building Permit Fees

Whether they are building a house or installing a new water heater, property owners in unincorporated areas of Ventura County will pay more for virtually any sort of building or planning permit.

For the first time in two years, the Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to increase fees for dozens of permits to more accurately reflect processing costs.

Charges for building permits, which are required for almost any modification to homes and businesses, will increase 6.5%, although other permits could cost about 20% more, said Steve Riley(cq), deputy director of the county’s Resource Management Agency.

The move will generate an additional $286,000 for county coffers, although the intent of the increase is to cover county costs rather than generate revenue, officials said.

“The public has to understand that somebody has to pay the bill,” Supervisor John Flynn said.

The board voted 3 to 1 to approve the increase with Supervisor Judy Mikels opposed and Supervisor Maggie Kildee absent.

Mikels’ opposition stemmed from the county’s attempt to recover costs for zoning changes and other land-use modifications that the permit applicant doesn’t generate directly. For instance, the charge for a project’s potentially complex environmental document would include the cost of providing information to the public under the new rules.

“We do need to recover the fees, but we need to get it from the right people,” Mikels said.

A similar billing method is used in Santa Barbara County. No one appeared at Tuesday’s meeting to speak against the fee increases.

“We’re surprised nobody testified,” Riley said. “Normally when you adjust fees there’s a bit more interest.”